US study finds no association between osteosarcoma and fluoride levels in bone (2011)
In July 2011 a team of US researchers published the results of a study they had carried out to determine whether bone fluoride levels are higher in individuals with osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer. (1)
Segments of bone taken from patients with osteosarcoma were compared for their fluoride content with segments of bone taken from other patients with types of tumours that had never previously been linked in the scientific literature with exposure to fluoride.
The researchers said that If chronic fluoride intake was a risk factor for osteosarcoma, it would be reasonable to expect that cases would have significantly higher bone fluoride concentrations than individuals not affected by osteosarcoma. However, the study found no association between the disease and fluoride levels in bone.
1. Kim FM, Hayes C, Williams PL, Whitford GM, Joshipura KJ, Hoover RN, Douglass CW and the National Osteosarcoma Etiology Group (2011): An assessment of bone fluoride and osteosarcoma. Published online in the Journal of Dental Research, July 2011.
RESEARCHERS’ CONCLUSION AFTER ANALYSIS OF BONE SAMPLES
“Since 99% of the body burden of fluoride is located in calcified tissues, and fluoride concentration is dependent upon the amount and duration of exposure as well as the rate of bone turnover, if chronic fluoride intake was a risk factor for osteosarcoma, then it would be reasonable to expect that cases would have significantly higher bone fluoride concentrations than tumour controls.”
“This study did not demonstrate an association between fluoride levels in bone and osteosarcoma.”