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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Oral. Health
Sec. Oral Health and Nutrition
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/froh.2025.1526262
This article is part of the Research Topic From Diet to Dental Health: Harnessing Data and Digital Health Records View all articles

Assessment of Fluoride Bio-Accessibility in Early Childhood Diets

Provisionally accepted
Jelena Kronic Jelena Kronic 1Ralph M Duckworth Ralph M Duckworth 1Claudio Angione Claudio Angione 1Steve M Levy Steve M Levy 2Fatemeh Vida Zohoori Fatemeh Vida Zohoori 1*
  • 1 Teesside University, Middlesbrough, United Kingdom
  • 2 The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Currently available dietary recommendations for fluoride provided as 'adequate intake' (AI) and 'tolerable upper intake level' (UL) assume 100% fluoride availability for utilization by the body, which is often not the case. To prevent the development of dental fluorosis, AI and UL values must include fluoride bioavailability. However, the lack of data on fluoride bioavailability/bioaccessibility has hindered progress so far. This study aimed to measure fluoride bio-accessibility of the dietary sources commonly consumed by children below four years of age. Methods: A total of 103 food and meal samples were purchased, prepared, and analyzed for fluoride content, subjected to a standardized static in vitro digestion procedure and subsequent determination of fluoride concentration of resultant mixtures necessary for the final fluoride bio-accessibility calculation. Fluoride concentrations before and after in vitro digestion were determined directly using a fluoride-ionselective electrode after addition of TISAB III, or indirectly by an acid diffusion method. Additionally, fluoride concentration of milk samples was determined using a combination of microwave-assisted acid digestion and the direct method of fluoride analysis. Results: Mean (SD) fluoride bio-accessibility for individual food samples was 44.7% (37.5%). The mean (SD) fluoride bio-accessibilities for meals created with juice, carbonated drinks, tap water, and milk were 79.0% (21.9%), 64.3% (20.7%), 40.2% (20.9%), and 71.5% (17.1%), respectively. For the rest of the meals with no common mixing agent, the mean (SD) fluoride bio-accessibility was 50.8% (55.9%). Conclusion: The majority of dietary sources analyzed in this project resulted in fluoride bio-accessibilities below 100%, indicating incomplete utilization of consumed fluoride. As the first study of its kind, these findings represent a critical initial step for future research and provide valuable insights to inform policymakers and health authorities in revising fluoride intake guidelines.

    Keywords: Fluoride, Infant, Child, Bio-accessibility, Diet, Iowa fluoride study

    Received: 11 Nov 2024; Accepted: 20 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Kronic, Duckworth, Angione, Levy and Zohoori. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Fatemeh Vida Zohoori, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, United Kingdom

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.