Fluoride and drinking water
The Baltimore Sun reported this month that the US Dept of Human Health & Human Services is planning to reduce the recommended fluoride level in US water supplies for the first time in almost 50 years. The reason for this appears to be that too much fluoride has caused spotting or streaking of teeth (called fluorosis) in about 40% of adolescents. Our state of Maryland apparently has among the highest fluoridation rates in the nation.
If the principles of Oriental medicine were to be applied here, we would see a case of moderation and balance having been led astray. Paul Pickford points out in his book Healing with Whole Foods, Oriental Traditions and Modern Nutrition, “Even if sodium fluoride were not a controversial chemical, should everyone receive some people’s medicine?” He goes on to say that the mineral fluorite is used in TCM as a formidable tranquilizer and that sodium fluoride – the chemical added to city water supplies – has been researched in many countries in Europe: it is illegal in water in Sweden, Denmark and Holland; Germany and Belgium have discontinued its use; France and Norway have never found enough reason to fluoridate water.
Water itself is the most abundant nutrient on our planet and in our body. We know that every kind, from rain to ocean water, has its own unique quality. It would follow then that each type also has different properties of energy. In Oriental medicine water is classified as relaxing, moistening, cooling and dispersing. Drinking too much can cause cold deficient conditions of the body, weaken digestion and upset the kidneys’ ability to produce yang energy. This applies particularly to ice cold water. Water is best drunk at room temperature or warmer, as in herbal teas.
On the other hand, an insufficient intake of water can lead to heat symptoms, eg inflammation, constipation, dryness, toxicity of the body, and kidney damage. The amount of water needed in the daily diet can vary widely, even from day to day, depending on the individual’s general health, lifestyle and eating habits, environmental factors and the season of the year. For example, a healthy vegetarian living in Southern California consumes much more water through fresh fruits and vegetables than would a meat eater living in Alaska.
As with all other foods, according to Oriental medicine, moderation, balance and harmony with nature are the key to our daily water intake, whether it contains fluoride or not – and if we follow the advice of Dr Marsaru Emoto, the Japanese researcher who says that water responds to our emotions, we will always think positive thoughts before we take every drink.
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