How does one avoid fluoride in drinking water?

You could drink bottled water that doesn’t contain fluoride. Or you could get a water treatment system for your home.

Sure, spring water. I get the big 5 gallon containers. Cuts way down on the waste too.

Produce your own. A survival guide would tell you how to construct a simple water collector using a sheet of plastic, a rock, and a cup.

You can purchase a water purifier.

http://www.bigberkeywaterfilters.com/

@Adirondackwannabe You know Fluoride is naturally occurring in spring water.
Heavy duty filters or distilling system will remove all items except H2O.

You have to be careful what water filter you pick. Some of them do not remove fluoride. I think is interesting that they put it right on the label. That’s better than a lot of companies do. I use a water filter, but we also buy spring water for outings. I wonder if any regulations require this information.

@Tropical_Willie I don’t see a site for your claim, but if that’s true, the amount of any mineral would vary from spring to spring.

Yes it varies but here’s an ARTICLE about fluoride in water.
The problem is for kidney patients on Dialysis.

As we do in the country, dig a well.

Just move somewhere where there is Lithium in the water. You won’t care about Fluoride anymore. lol

I guess a better question would’ve been is the amount of fluoride in water concerning or negligible?

My ‘hood.

“Water source: Ground

Water system type: Community

Does this water system supply fluoridated water?
No. This water system has a natural fluoride concentration below the level considered optimal for the prevention of dental caries (cavities).

Fluoride concentration: 0.20 mg/L

If I understand correctly the natural fluoride in spring water is much different than the industrial (waste) fluoride that is used in municipal water treatment. It’s pretty easy to tell if someone has been drinking too much fluoride because they’ll have white spots on their teeth (flourosis) I generally avoid it but I’m not convinced that it’s going to kill me either. Certain brands of spring water do not have any detectable. A simple filter will not get it out, you must have a fluoride filter. It does prevent tooth decay but it’s also toxic at certain levels. It’s debatable if the added fluoride is causing health problems. I think it’s probably a bad idea to add it to water since the individual dose cannot be controlled. Unfortunately it’s almost impossible to completely avoid since it’s in the water used to make just about all of our food.

Fluoride is added to water for dental health, not for getting rid of microbes. People’s dental health has greatly improved because of it. Poor dental health often leads to heart disease, in addition to cavities.

My mouth was cavity-central when I was a kid. My kids have had zero cavities.

But you can use reverse osmosis to get rid of it.

Why on earth would you want to avoid it? It’s not detrimental to your health, and it’s meant to prevent tooth decay. Jeez, talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.

You could always dig a well. I had one in Florida for a while. Bummer when the power goes out though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluoride_toxicity
At high concentrations yeah, it’s poison. Zero doubt about that.

@ARE_you_kidding_me Oh no! Better stop brushing your teeth, then. <eyeroll>

@ARE_you_kidding_me at high concentrations H2O can also be toxic. Fluoride is like anything else that is good for you, it is beneficial in the proper amounts and too much can kill you. If you are concerned about the amount of fluoride in your water, you can always buy bottled water that is fluoride free.

I’m not concerned. It’s not a benign substance though and should be treated with care.

http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4058

You should also avoid breathing too much oxygen: oxygen toxicity, and drinking too much water: Water Intoxication.

Activated Alumina works to lower fluoride to safe levels in drinking water or else you will have to install an expensive reverse-osmosis system. Both are expensive and require frequent replacement, but do offer an option for home water filtration.

this is a strangely controversial issue, I’m not sure why

To remove fluoride from your water (it’s in most US municipalities), your best bet is a reverse osmosis water filter, as that’s the only real system that can practically remove it at home. I just installed this one from Amazon. It works well, and the install process wasn’t too bad. Took me a few hours.

To remove fluoride from the water for everyone (the best solution), support The Fluoride Action Network.

@Rarebear – interesting, the link says that some sources have too much naturally occurring fluoride. The fluoridation process includes reducing fluoride content if incoming water contains too much.

We have an RO system only to reduce our consumption of bottled water, and associated plastic bottle waste. Our drinking water costs are about the same, but we no longer end up with plastic bottles to throw away.