Fluoride may be your next contraceptive?
Saturday Oct 12, 2013 (foodconsumer.org) -- A new study suggests that exposure to all currently used fluoride chemicals including sodium fluoride, one of the chemicals that are commonly used for drinking water fluoridation, may make men infertile or reduce their fertility.
J.H Freedman and colleagues from National Institutes of Health in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA and colleagues conducted the study and found all other commonly used fluoride chemicals as toxic as sodium fluoride.
Fluorides are commonly used in drinking water in the United States to reduce the risk of dental caries. Although fluoride does not seem able to reduce the incidence of dental caries, fluoridation of drinking water has been associated with increased risk of both dental and skeletal fluorosis and rare bone cancer in boys. Fluorides can also cause oxidative stress, which is in turn associated with a range of diseases.
Sodium fluoride has been known to negatively affect the fertility in both men and women. And in a recent study, researchers found sodium fluoride can negatively affect sperm chemotaxis.
Sperm chemotaxis is the system in which sperm cells or spermatozoa can follow a concencetration gradient of a chemoattractant secreated from the oocyte and find the oocyte, which is neccessary for a sperm to fertilize an oocyte. Impaired sperm chemotaxis does not guide a sperm cell into an oocyte or egg. In other words, a man with impaired sperm chemotaxis can be infertile.
In the study, silicofluorides, such as sodium hexafluorosilicate (Na2 SiF6 ) and fluorosilicic acid (H2 SiF6 ), were compared with sodium fluoride for their toxicity on the growth, feeding, and reproduction of Caenorhabditis elegans, an alternative toxicologucal testing organism.
It was found that exposure to all fluoride chemicals produced classic dose-responsive toxicity. That is, for one thing, all the compounds can impair males' fertility.
The researchers concluded "silicofluorides have similar toxicity to NaF (sodium fluoride)." (DL)
(Send your news to firstname.lastname@example.org, Foodconsumer.org is part of the Infoplus.com ™ news and information network)
- President Obama Capitulates to Big Food, Signs DARK Act Into Law
- Even though Obama didn't veto the DARK Act ..
- Trans fat increases stroke risk in men
- Jujube may help prevent cervical cancer, breast cancer
- Whole grains cut risk of heart attack - study