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What makes fluoride play around in your body and aggravate? Does a standardized, universal bench mark of 1.5 ppm of fluoride per liter in water hold good? are there other reasons that need to be factored in?

Questions in your mind, yes?

Ok, lets start things off; The reason for Fluorosis is High levels of fluoride in drinking water supplies and in food grown in endemic areas. the more fluoride there is in the water and food you consume the more severe is your fluorosis, as simple as that.

But interestingly; although there is a standard defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO), which has come up with a universally accepted theory that any fluoride in water upto 1.5 ppm per day per liter is safe to have, The truth is that there cannot be a fixed rule that applies randomly to all. The body mass, the body built, your being a child or adult and other factors have a huge role in determining how much of an effect fluoride can have on you if you happen to be in a endemic area.

Also; in a fluoride affected area, Tropical or extreme hot weather and some hard manual labor can make you feel thirstier, so your body’s water requirement grows and you’d be drinking more water. A lot more fluoride, therefore, which is beyond what’s reasonable; no matter what the limit therefore enters your body.

If your nutrition is poor; which in “fluorosis avoiding terms” essentially means that your food is deficient in reasonable calcium, magnesium and vitamin C which gives you the wherewithal in countering fluorosis by making fluoride flush out; you could end up having really bad skeletal fluorosis, if you keep drinking contaminated water.

Magnesium has a peculiar relationship with fluoride and its optimum intake helps in elimination of fluoride from the body. Vitamin C as well is beneficial in some way in reducing fluoride toxicity.

Fluorosis which earlier used to take much more time to manifest itself in people and very rarely in children, has for the past decade or so started showing up much quicker now. even in small children who are showing symptoms, which was never before the case.

The deterioration in food habits,i.e. foods people that now have being low in nutritional value, is what is leading these things to happen.

A Renal or kidney disease can also aggravate your fluorosis by increased deposition of fluoride in the bones. A diseased kidney cannot handle fluoride excretion from the body, and hence you’d find an increased deposition taking place in bones.

After all; where else can the excess fluoride go if it is unable to find it’s way out of the body?

to sum it up briefly; its about you taking the right kind of food and the capacity it gives you to flush toxins such as fluoride out of your body, along with switching to safe water

There's an important facet to the connection that lies between wash and disability; albeit a bit different than access to proper toilets, proper sanitation facilitation for people with disability only and the connection is between unsafe water and the disabling diseases like fluorosis, arsenecosis that it causes.

Fluorosis, particularly skeletal fluorosis is a disease that's hugely disabling . It also has a huge psychological cost to the individual who it affects as there is loss of social acceptance and ability to contribute for him, his familiy suffer as well.

There are two things that can prevent the very disabling fluorosis from happening and they are safer water and improved nutrition

For the past 2 years(we started in 2013) We've been trying to link together people through a national network on Fluorosis in India where the problem of Fluoride in groundwater which causes fluorosis is acute,

Rural areas are most affected, as people here mostly rely on groundwater.Though the problem is acute and severely affects rural communities it's not talked about much, not as much atleast as other health issues are talked about.

We have been trying to get people's movements going (people from varied backgrounds; researchers, ngo workers,field organisations, specialists) in the states that have been affected most, and we have also been putting in efforts to bring in health and water related government departments into the bigg picture. We've made our presence felt in states of Assam, Telangana, Karnataka and there have been successes.

The issue needs all the support it can get through the varied ability that this group possesses, I'm creating this new topic "Unsafe Water, it's health consequences and Disability" under the Health and Hygeine, schools forum so a flury of ideas can come in. I urge members to come forward with what they think, with ideas on funding support if possible to help the network spread it's impact in getting people, government to act, communities to get more aware and referal facilities for people suffering to improve.

You can find more about the network on www.fluorideindia.org and more about the issue on www.indiawaterportal.org/topics/fluoride Please join our facebook group www.facebook.com/groups/fluorideindia/ and be part of the conversations around all that's happening in the network.

Please do get in touch at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you'd like to connect through email.