Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
Department of Oral Health Sciences, School of Dentistry, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
Nutrients. 2022 Oct 12;14(20):4263. doi: 10.3390/nu14204263.
Fluoride has no tangible health benefits other than preventing dental caries and there is a small difference between its minimum effective dose and its minimum toxic dose. Leading global organizations currently recommend fluoride supplementation because they recommend high-carbohydrate diets which can cause dental caries. Low-carbohydrate diets prevent dental caries making such fluoride recommendations largely unnecessary. A dental organization was among the first to initiate the public health recommendations which started fluoride-supplemented high-carbohydrate nutritional guidelines. This start required expert panels at this dental organization to reverse on three key scientific points between 1942 and 1949: (1) that topical fluoride had potential harms, (2) that dental caries was a marker for micronutrient deficiencies, and (3) that low-carbohydrate diets are to be recommended for dental caries prevention. Internal documents show that private interests motivated the events which led these expert panels to engage in pivotal scientific reversals. These private interests biased scientific processes and these reversals occurred largely in an absence of supporting evidence. It is concluded that private interests played a significant role in the start of public health endorsements of fluoride-supplemented high-carbohydrate nutritional guidelines.
氟化物除了预防龋齿之外，没有明显的健康益处，其最小有效剂量和最小毒性剂量之间存在微小差异。目前，全球主要组织建议补充氟化物，因为它们建议高碳水化合物饮食，而高碳水化合物饮食会导致龋齿。低碳水化合物饮食可以预防龋齿，因此这些氟化物的建议在很大程度上是不必要的。一个牙科组织是最早提出公共卫生建议的组织之一，这些建议开始了氟化物补充的高碳水化合物营养指南。这一开端要求该牙科组织的专家小组在 1942 年至 1949 年间扭转三个关键的科学观点：（1）局部用氟化物可能有潜在危害，（2）龋齿是微量营养素缺乏的标志，（3）推荐低碳水化合物饮食预防龋齿。内部文件显示，私人利益是导致这些专家小组进行关键科学逆转的事件的动机。这些私人利益影响了科学进程，这些逆转在很大程度上缺乏证据支持。结论是，私人利益在公共卫生部门开始支持氟化物补充的高碳水化合物营养指南方面发挥了重要作用。
