Fluoride in drinking water doesn’t strain children’s IQ levels: Study
By Rob Taub
The mineral fluoride found in drinking water has no connection to lowered children’s IQ levels, according to a recent study.
The research, published in Science Advances, opposed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s claim that adding fluoride to tap water may harm cognition following a government study from the National Toxicology Program.
It also comes after Utah and Florida’s ban on fluoride in public drinking water went into effect during the summer.
“I wouldn’t have done this work had it not been an empirical question that I didn’t think we had an answer to, of great immediate policy interest,” Dr. Rob Warren, the study’s lead author. said.
Warren and his colleagues examined information from people who were included in the High School and Beyond study cohort by the National Center for Education Statistics from 1980 to 2021.
The results showed children who grew up taking in recommended levels of fluoride achieved somewhat better academically in high school than kids never exposed to sufficient levels.
Susan Fisher-Owens, a pediatrician, called the study a “much-needed addition to a broad literature that shows the safety and benefits of community water fluoridation.”
“It is the first study that looks at this information in the United States, which makes it a stronger basis for making policy decisions,” Fisher-Owens said.
As of November 2025, more than 62 percent of the U.S. population receives fluoridated water, and most water systems contain 0.7 milligrams of fluoride per liter of water.
Fluoride was first added to drinking water in parts of the country 70 years ago to prevent tooth decay.