Tea bags are dangerous due to fluoride poisoning

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Using cheap tea bags can have negative effects on your health, according to a recent study report. A study of cheap disposable tea bags that included well-known brands showed that they were oversaturated with fluorides.

This leads to exceeding the daily intake of these compounds leading to a high risk of dental and bone diseases.

Experts have already called on manufacturers and retailers to provide correct information on tea packages (usually, the presence of fluorides is indicated as a positive factor in the nutritional value of teas).

Professors Paul Lynch and Ardhana Mehra, with the participation of graduate student Laura Chen (all from the University of Derby), compared the fluoride levels in 38 types of tea bags. Using ion-selective electrode analysis, which detects trace elements in liquids, they investigated fluoride levels. To do this, scientists brewed tea in bags for 2 minutes, and then calculated the amount of fluoride that enters the body from four cups of tea a day.

It is highly discouraged for an adult to consume more than 3.57 mg. fluorine per day.

However, the study found that the fluoride level in four cups of tea exceeded the daily requirement by 75-120%. On average, four cheap tea bags contained 6 mg. fluorine.

As the scientists noted, there are significant differences in the amount of fluoride in cheap and expensive tea bags. The pattern was the same for both green and black tea. At the same time, there was less fluoride in green tea than in black.

On average, the difference between cheap and expensive tea bags was 3.3 mg. fluoride per liter (4 brewed bags).

The less the tea was industrially processed, the less fluoride it contained. Sorts such as oolong and pu'er, in which the tea undergoes minimal industrial processing, has only 0.7 mg of fluoride. for 1 liter.

Constant exceeding of the recommended fluoride consumption norms threatens with a bunch of health problems.

Do not forget that in addition to tea, significant concentrations of fluorides are found in seafood, some sources of drinking water, toothpaste, etc. The least of the evils that are threatened by an overabundance of this trace element is dental fluorosis - the appearance of white and brown spots on the enamel of the teeth. It is also the first sign of excessive fluoride intake.

More dangerous consequences are skeletal fluorosis - a disease that causes muscle weakness, gastrointestinal disorders, pain in bones and joints.

Skeletal fluorosis usually occurs with an intake of 10 mg or more. fluoride in knocks for more than 10 years, or 2, 5 -5 mg. for 40 years.

Increased intake of fluoride is also associated with the risk of osteoporosis, an increased risk of kidney stones (a typical disease for people living in areas with fluoride drinking water).

Fluoride affects the development of bone cancer in young people. A 1992 study showed that the risk of osteosarcoma is 6.57 times higher in people who drink fluoride.

“The mature leaves of the tea plant have the ability to store fluoride,” says Laura Chen. “For expensive teas, buds and young leaves are used, while the cheaper the tea, the more mature the leaves.”

“Although fluoride is one of the most important micronutrients for health, it is involved in the growth of bones and the prevention of tooth decay, but its excess is fraught with detrimental consequences. People who consume cheap teas in bags, in addition to other sources of fluoride, receive killer doses of the micronutrient that threaten their health in the long term."