Bangalore, Sep 3, 2010:  Fluoride avoidance reduced anemia in pregnant women, decreased preterm births and enhanced babies' birth-weight, concludes leading fluoride expert, AK Susheela, director, Fluorosis Research & Rural Development Foundation, India, in a study published in Current Science.

Susheela's team explains that anemia in pregnancy, which can lead to maternal and infant mortality, continues to plague many countries, despite nutritional counseling and maternal iron and folic acid supplementation. This is the first examination of fluoride as an additional risk factor for anemia and low-birth-weight babies.

Anemic pregnant women living in India, whose urine contained 1 mg/L fluoride or more, were separated into two groups.  The experimental group avoided fluoride in water, food and other sources and ate a nutritious diet per instruction.  The control group received no instructions. Both groups supplemented with iron and folic acid.

Results reveal that anemia was reduced and preterm and low-birth-weight babies were considerably fewer in the fluoride-avoidance group as compared to the control. Two stillbirths occurred in the control group, none in the experimental group.

Susheela et al. writes, "Maternal and child under-nutrition and anemia is not necessarily due to insufficient food intake, but because of the derangement of nutrient absorption due to damage caused to GI  (gastrointestinal) mucosa by ingestion of undesired chemical substances, like, fluoride through food, water and other sources."

Fluoride avoidance regenerated the intestinal lining which enhanced the absorption of nutrients as evidenced by the reduction in urinary fluoride followed by rise in hemoglobin levels, they report.

Could the same thing be happening in the United States? State University of New York researchers found more premature births in fluoridated than non-fluoridated upstate New York communities, according to a presentation made at the 2009 American Public Health Association's annual meeting.