Fluoride Action Network

As a life long drinker and lover of tea. I was shocked to hear it can contain high levels of fluoride. Im in the UK and my water supply is not artificially fluoridated.

As I love tea , what can I do apart from stop drinking the stuff, do reduce my intake of fluoride.

Does coffee face the same problem?

Cheers!

There's been less research on the levels of fluoride in coffee. Of the limited amount of research done, it appears that coffee has less fluoride than tea. A recent analysis from the US Department of Agriculture found that a brewed copy of coffee had 0.91 ppm fluoride. It is unclear, however, if they used fluoridated water for the analysis. If they used fluoridated water, than it would appear as if coffee contributed very little fluoride. However, if they used filtered water, than it would seem that coffee could raise the level of fluoride by up to 1 ppm over and above what is found in water.

Tea can be a significant source of fluoride in the diet that is often overlooked. Worried that the 2006 NAS report on Fluoride in Drinking Water might make tea look less healthy, the US Tea Association sponsored some research that indicated that it would take 10 or more cups of tea to exceed the (eggregiously inflated) Upper Tolerable Intake of 10mg a day (http://poisonfluoride.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=58&highlight=tea+association ). Using the industry's analysis of the science that they sponsored(ahem), we can do the math and see that they are actually saying, but avoiding saying, that there is 1 mg of fluoride per cup of tea, and that they are using a 4ppm fluoride concentration level as the standard. This makes 1 cup of tea, at that concentration, the equivalent of a liter of water at the not so optimal 1ppm.
The fluoride content of tea varies widely and much higher concentrations than 4ppm can be attained using lower quality teas or brewing the tea longer. In general, the least fluoride will be found in the freshest leaves, and bud tips. Organic white and high quality green tea seem to be the healthiest.Bulk, brick and bag teas are usually made from the oldest leaves. Some of the most dramatic skeletal fluorosis occurs in areas of high tea use.
So, again, tea can frequently be an overlooked but significant contributor to our total exposure to fluoride at 1mg per cup or more.
david

I have heard that by adding milk to the tea one can reduce the fluoride uptake by binding calcium to the fluoride so it passes through. Anyone have any science to support this, or know if this is common knowledge in India where they seem to be ahead of us in their understanding of the spectrum of symptoms attributable to fluorosis?