Drinking fluoridated water during pregnancy does not affect birth outcomes

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2026-01-21 03:00

International

CC-0. Story by Dr Joe Milton, Australian Science Media Centre

International scientists say there's no link between drinking fluoridated water during pregnancy and adverse birth outcomes such as babies being born underweight. The team looked at data on nearly 11.5 million births across 677 US counties, and found babies born in counties with fluoridated water supplies were no more likely to be born underweight, or experience any other adverse birth outcomes like premature birth, than babies in counties where the water supply is fluoride-free. They also looked at whether any counties had seen more adverse outcomes after introducing fluoride to their water systems. Again, no increase was seen. The findings suggest pregnant women do not need to worry about drinking fluoridated water, the authors conclude.

News release

From: JAMA

Community Water Fluoridation and Birth Outcomes

About The Study: This cohort study of more than 11 million births found no association of community water fluoridation with adverse birth outcomes. These findings provide reassurance about the safety of community water fluoridation during pregnancy and underscore the value of rigorous causal designs in evaluating potential adverse effects of public health interventions.

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Research JAMA, Web page The URL will go live after the embargo ends

Journal/
conference: JAMA Network Open

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: University of Basel (Switzerland)

Funder: This study received support from Ambizione grant PZ00P1_223786 from the Swiss National Science Foundation (Dr Krebs) and Paul B. Beeson Emerging Leaders Career Development Award in Aging K76AG095036 from the National Institute on Aging (Dr Simon).

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