Dietary Fluoride Intake by Children Receiving Different Sources of Systemic Fluoride

Abstract

There has been no comparison of fluoride (F) intake by pre-school children receiving more traditional sources of systemic F. The aim of this study was to estimate the dietary F intake by children receiving F from artificially fluoridated water (AFW-Brazil, 0.6–0.8 mg F/L), naturally fluoridated water (NFW-Brazil, 0.6–0.9 mg F/L), fluoridated salt (FS-Peru, 180–200 mg F/Kg), and fluoridated milk (FM-Peru, 0.25 mg F). Children (n = 21–26) aged 4–6 yrs old participated in each community. A non-fluoridated community (NoF) was evaluated as the control population. Dietary F intake was monitored by the “duplicate plate” method, with different constituents (water, other beverages, and solids). F was analyzed with an ion-selective electrode. Data were tested by Kruskall-Wallis and Dunn’s tests (p < 0.05). Mean (± SD) F intake (mg/Kg b.w./day) was 0.04 ± 0.01^b, 0.06 ± 0.02^a,b, 0.05 ± 0.02^a,b, 0.06 ± 0.01^a, and 0.01 ± 0.00^c for AFW/NFW/FS/FM/NoF, respectively. The main dietary contributors for AFW/NFW and FS/FM/NoF were water and solids, respectively. The results indicate that the dietary F intake must be considered before a systemic method of fluoridation is implemented.