INVESTIGATIONS ON THE METABOLISM OF FLUORIDE

II. FLUORIDE CONTENT OF BLOOD AND URINE AS A FUNCTION OF THE FLUORINE IN DRINKING WATER

¹ Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Department of Radiation Biology, School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Rochester, Rochester, N. Y.

A comparison has been made of the blood and urinary fluoride concentrations in 2 populations whose water supplies contain 0.06 and 1.36 ppm fluoride, respectively. The data indicate:

1. As the fluoride concentration of the water supply is increased from 0.06 to 1.36 ppm (twenty-three fold increase), the mean urinary fluoride concentration increases from 0.06 to 1.12 ppm (nineteen fold increase).

2. Under these same conditions, the mean blood fluoride concentration increases from 0.014 to 0.040 ppm (threefold increase).

3. A maximum blood fluoride concentration of 0.1 ppm was found in each population. It is, therefore, concluded that the higher level of fluoride in the water supply does not produce dangerously high blood fluoride concentrations.