Journal of Dental Research, Vol 69, 1828-1833, Copyright © 1990 by International & American Associations for Dental Research Online Journals
Fluoride intake of infants in New Zealand
N. G. Chowdhury, R. H. Brown and M. G. Shepherd
Department of Community Dental Health, School of Dentistry, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Since the fluoride (F-) intake of New Zealand infants and young children is
not known, a study was designed to determine and compare the F- intake of
infants, aged 11 to 13 months, residing in fluoridated (F) and
non-fluoridated (NF) areas. Parents of 60 infants duplicated quantitatively
and qualitatively all food and drink that the infants ingested during a
three-day period. The acid-diffusible F- content in the liquid homogenate
was isolated by the HMDS-HCl diffusion technique (Taves, 1968) and measured
by a fluoride electrode. The ionic F- in samples of breast milk was
measured directly by the electrode. In the F area, the F- content of the
food and drinks of 31 subjects ranged from 0.130 to 0.679 mg/kg (mean,
0.320; SD, 0.168); in the NF areas, the F- content of the food and drinks
of 29 subjects ranged from 0.036 to 0.281 mg/kg (mean, 0.095; SD, 0.053).
The dietary intake ranged from 0.089 to 0.549 mg F/day (0.009-0.056 mg F/kg
bw) in the F area, and from 0.038 to 0.314 mg F/day (0.004-0.038 mg F/kg
bw) in the NF area. Including F- from tablets and toothpastes, total intake
ranged from 0.093 to 1.299 mg F/day (0.009-0.150 mg F/kg bw) and from 0.039
to 0.720 mg F/day (0.004-0.061 mg F/kg bw) in F and NF areas, respectively.
The mean dietary intake of infants in the F area was about half the
recommended "optimal" range; in the NF areas, the dietary intake was five
to seven times less than the optimal.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
