PFPC NEWSLETTER #6 - "Fluoride in Cereals" November 6, 2000 Copyright 2000 (feel free to distribute) IN THIS ISSUE: 1) INTRODUCTION 2) CEREALS IN CHINA 3) SPIN DOCTORS/DRESS ME UP 4) SOME CEREAL HISTORY 5) SUGAR SUGAR 6) 1999 STATEMENT BY THE AUSTRALIAN PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE 1) INTRODUCTION Every day children all over the world have a cereal not only for breakfast, but also for lunch, and often as a snack between meals. While the word 'cereal' denotes a food made from grain, many cereals cannot be considered a "food" at all. For example, Kellogg's "Sugar Smacks" contain over 50% sugar. When compared to other high-sugar foods and snacks, it should really be called a "candy". What little grain is left in it has been robbed of its nourishment and contains high amounts of fluoride, as well as other toxins. They also contain phytates (inositol hexaphosphate) which are known - as is fluoride - to bind dietary zinc and iron and render them unavailable for absorption. Phytates also bind calcium to form insoluble calcium phytate. Incidentally, zinc and iron deficiencies are considered the world's most prevalent nutritional deficiencies. In the US, fluoride levels ranging from 2.1 mg/kg in "Kellogg's Fruit Loops" to 9.4mg/kg in Shredded Wheat have been documented. Where does the fluoride in cereals come from? A mere glance at the titles in this REF SET will give an idea: PLANTS http://www.bruha.com/fluoride/html/plants.html While you read the information below, PLEASE keep in mind that there are ongoing fluoridation efforts in the US, Canada and elsewhere, so that children can at least (!) get the daily fluoride dose deemed "optimal" for cavity prevention. This dose was set in the 1940's at 1mg/day, presuming that the average person drinking four glasses of water a day could thus obtain this "optimal" dose. Also, the info here deals with cereals only, NOT any other source... Best to all, and for those of you in the US - good luck on Nov.7th! Andreas Schuld Head, Parents of Fluoride Poisoned Children (PFPC) Vancouver, BC, Canada ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2) CEREALS IN CHINA: In China, endemic fluoride poisoning occurs in 1,230 counties and cities in 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, threatening over 200 million people. Kaschin-Beck Disease (KBD) is found in over 315 counties and cities in 14 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, and affects 34 million people. In seriously affected areas, the incidence amongst youth and children is over 50%, and in the most seriously affected areas, over 80%. The Chinese Government acknowledges fluoride to be cause of KBD, normally thought of as being due to selenium deficiency. During the 2nd Chinese total diet investigation in the years 1992 and 1993 it came to light that ALL cereals (except those from one area in the South) exceeded fluoride tolerance levels by 11.9 to 95.3% (tolerance levels set, like MCL in water - as if no other source existed - to 4 mg/kg), meaning levels were up to 7.81 mg/kg. (Chen & Gao, 1997) As a result of those findings, the Chinese government in its "White Paper on China's Population, Environment, and Development in the 21st Century" had advised the change of cereals in order to avoid KBD, and now considers this measure, together with water sanitation efforts and selenium supplementation, a great success. In the 1990s, cereal consumption in Asia was about 140 kgs a year/per person, after a high of 250kgs a year/per person in the 1970s (Chunming, 1995). At fluoride content of 7.8 mg/kg and intake of 140 kgs/year this could easily mean an intake of almost 1100 mg of F-/per year from this source alone, more than 3 mg/day! Does the high fluoride levels in China matter to the rest of the world? In 1994 Chinese exports of cereal products peaked at 1.7 billion dollars. During the first four months of 1999, China exported a total of about 660 000 tonnes. The US is the main importer of cereal products. (source: UN Revision 2 Commodity Statistics, 1999) The NAS wrote in 1999 that US cereal consumption for North America/Oceania was 780 kgs per capita in 1990!!! 3) SPIN DOCTORS/DRESS ME UP While there are those who attempt to alert the public about the high sugar content, or the dangers of high content of fluoride, aluminum or phytates in cereals, here is how Kellogg's spindoctors interpret such findings - by simply turning it around for the public and all major media, which then - in turn - reports this to the people as "scientific evidence". A comparison with the York Report on fluoridation is inevitable. "Cereal is Kid's Top Vitamin Source" October 6, 1998 AP Lindsey Tanner CHICAGO -- Amy Subar, a research nutritionist with the National Cancer Institute, was cited as reporting in the October issue of Pediatrics, a journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, that cold breakfast cereal was the main source of key vitamins and minerals for American children, possibly displacing vitamin-rich fruits and vegetables, which contain fiber and cancer-fighting substances. Kellogg spokeswoman Karen Kafer was quoted as saying, "It really does show the role cereal can play in delivering important nutrients in kids diets." The study of 4,008 children ages 2 through 18 looked at 20 foods they ate between 1989 and 1991, and cereal was the No. 1 source of vitamin A, iron and folic acid for every age. Folic acid has been shown to reduce the risk of certain types of cancer. Researchers also found that cereal was the third-highest source of zinc and magnesium. Sugary drinks were the No. 2 source of carbohydrates, behind bread. And high-fat foods such as cakes and cookies ranked among youngsters' top 10 sources of vitamin E, protein, fiber, calcium and iron. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------- 4) SOME CEREAL HISTORY >From information generously supplied by Peter Meiers, Germany There are many connections between fluoridation, formula and cereal manufacturers, and public health dentistry. KELLOGG'S In 1930, Kellogg Company´s owner, Will Keith Kellogg, established his famous Kellogg Foundation which spends incredible amounts of money annually as well as man-power in the interest of a strong (dental) public health movement. In establishing the foundation, Kellogg transferred to it the majority of Kellogg Company stocks (51%), and thus the fate of his Company. Dentists Emory W. Morris - director; first chairman of the ADA Council on Dental Health in 1942, and Phil Blackerby - associate director and later WHO consultant, represented just two members of their staff. Among other generosities by Kellogg is the Kellogg Radiation Laboratory. George Darling, a Dr. P. H. (Doctor of Public Health) graduate of the University of Michigan, was the first president of the Kellogg Foundation. In 1944, according to JADA, Darling went to the National Research Council. The next time it was heard of him he directed, since 1957, an "Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission" in Japan. In 1938, the dental profession of Michigan and the Dental School of the University of Michigan were fortunate enough to receive recognition from the Kellogg Foundation which materialized its appreciation of dental service to the public by an appropriation of $500,000 to be used for creating a building to be known as the "W. K. Kellogg Foundation Institute for Graduate and Postgraduate Dental Education". In 1941, the foundation made an additional grant of $110,000 to the University of Michigan School of Dentistry. In addition, the Foundation offered to nearly all dental schools a fund of ten thousand dollars to provide scholarships or loans for deserving students at the discretion of the school administration. This same year, the Kellogg and the Rockefeller Foundations each contributed $500,000 for the erection of a new School of Public Health at the University of Michigan campus. It is an interesting fact that names of the first lecturers and department directors of this school also were listed among the members of the Boards of Trustees of the Kellogg Foundation. It was at this School that, while preparing his M.P.H. thesis, the later director of the Newburgh/Kingston Caries Fluorine project, David Bernard Ast, was taught what constitutes a 'public health problem'. The University of Michigan School of Dentistry, then represented by Profs. Russell Bunting and Philip Jay, once was famous for research - since the early 30´s - on the role of sugar and certain bacteria (lactobacilli) in dental caries. In 1927 and again in 1933 they met Tren Dean and Fred McKay at Minonk, Illinois, a mottled enamel area, but weren´t too much impressed about the reduction in tooth decay there. They continued their sugar related research until in the late 30´s. In 1940, Jay announced that, should information about sugar´s bad effects "become widespread to the extent that the sale of sugar becomes seriously affected, teeth would be spared only at the expense of our economic welfare. Too large a proportion of the world´s population is directly dependent upon the sugar industry for its distress not to be felt by everyone" - and continued to outline the history of the discovery of fluoride as a caries preventative. MEAD JOHNSON Mead Johnson & Company, manufacturer of infant formulas (e.g. Pablum) as well as Vitamin-Fluoride preparations (Poly-Vi-Flor), also supplied funding for fluoride research. Pablum was the "first pre-cooked, fortified cereal for babies", first produced in 1933. A decade earlier Mead Johnson had started the production of SOBEE formula. Nutritionists had recommended that soy-based baby-milks be on prescription only and that aluminum contents should be labelled, but to no avail. In 1942 and 1943 Williard F. Machle worked with Edward J. Largent (Reynold's Metal advisor) on a fluoride project supported by Mead Johnson. Machle worked for Kettering Labs at the University of Cincinnati. Kettering Labs also worked for the Atomic Energy Commission. Machle´s first fluoride-related researches were "supported in part" by Kinetic Chemicals Incorporated. Kinetic Chemicals Inc. once developed a method using hydrogen fluoride to prepare fluorinated hydrocarbons. However, Machle alleged that their interest in fluoride research ("Effects of inhalation of hydrogen fluoride") arose when it was discovered that Freon (also known as F12) decomposed "on passage through a flame" and thereby yields two molecules of hydrogen fluoride in addition to two molecules of hydrogen chloride for each molecule of the compound. He was later (1940) joined by E. E. Evans, MD, of DuPont "studying a group of workmen exposed principally to hydrogen fluoride, and to a lesser degree to the dusts of calcium fluoride, in the manufacture of hydrofluoric acid. This plant has been in operation since 1931 at which time the clinical studies were begun." ---------------------- By the end of WWII the US was basically a formula-fed nation. Waldbott writes about the high amount of fluoride in Pablum (18ppm): "When this amount of fluoride was to be excessive - it produced mottled teeth - manufacturers reduced the fluoride content of Pablum to between 1.33 and 2.12 ppm..." Soy formula has long been associated with thyroid dysfunction, especially hypothyroidism, in children. Here is one abstract: Fort P, Moses N, Fasano M, Goldberg T, Lifshitz F - "Breast and soy-formula feedings in early infancy and the prevalence of autoimmune thyroid disease in children" J Am Coll Nutr 9(2):164-7 (1990) "It has been suggested that feeding practices in infancy may affect the development of various autoimmune diseases later in life. Since thyroid alterations are among the most frequently encountered autoimmune conditions in children, we studied whether breast and soy-containing formula feedings in early life were associated with the subsequent development of autoimmune thyroid disease. A detailed history of feeding practices was obtained in 59 children with autoimmune thyroid disease, their 76 healthy siblings, and 54 healthy nonrelated control children. There was no difference in the frequency and duration of breast feeding in early life among the three groups of children. However, the frequency of feedings with soy-based milk formulas in early life was significantly higher in children with autoimmune thyroid disease (prevalence 31%) as compared with their siblings (prevalence 12%; chi 2 = 7.22 with continuity factor; p less than 0.01), and healthy nonrelated control children (prevalence 13%, chi 2 = 5.03 with continuity factor; p less than 0.02). Therefore, this retrospective analysis documents the association of soy formula feedings in infancy and autoimmune thyroid disease." 5) SUGAR SUGAR In the early 1970s, the sugar industry claimed in its advertising that sugar was a nutrient. In 1973, the National Advertising Review Board found that the claim was without merit, and it was ceased. Merchants marketing sugar have long targeted children as their most lucrative customer base. Sugary products dominate the commercials on Saturday morning cartoons. In "Living Health" the Diamonds cite a Los Angeles Times article reporting that in one nine-month period it was possible for a child watching television just during the daytime on weekends to see "more than 5,500 commercials for cereals, candy, and other sugared items, and just one for vegetables. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------- 6) 1999 STATEMENT BY THE AUSTRALIAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION The Public Health Association of Australia notes that: 1. Children's health and their subsequent protection from disease in adulthood is influenced by the food they eat in childhood [1,2]. 2. Eating behaviours are established early in life, and these behaviours are maintained as age increases [3,4]. 3. Children's food preferences are important determinants of food intake [5,6]. Food preferences are influenced by parents and carers, peer pressure and the media [7,8]. Family food environments are shaped by a range of factors which include the foods made available and accessible, parental modelling, the extent of media exposure in the home, and the ways in which parents interact with children in the eating context [9-13]. 4. Television is an important media source of education for children, influencing them from a very young age [14]. Australia has one of the highest levels in the world of food advertising during children's television viewing times (programs rated 'C' or 'G' and shown in the mornings and afternoons) [15]. The National Health and Medical Research Council (NH&MRC) has reported that television may be more influential than family in setting children's food preferences and an association between television watching and consumption of 'unhealthy' foods has been demonstrated [16, 17]. 5. Food advertising during children's viewing times accounts for between 25% and 40% of all advertisements, and as high as 89% (during one hour of weekday morning television viewing) [15,18,19]. 6. Through food advertising, young children are subjected to the vigorous marketing of foods which are predominantly of low nutritional value (high in fat, salt or sugar and low in fibre). Most advertisements in children's viewing time promote fast food restaurants, sweetened breakfast cereals and confectionery [15,18]. There are very few advertisements promoting the consumption of rice, pasta, breads, unsweetened cereals, vegetables, fruits, unsweetened dairy products, meat, fish or chicken. For the most part, food advertising to children directly contradicts the Dietary Guidelines for Children and Adolescents and the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating [1,20]. Food advertising has also been shown to take advantage of children's vulnerability by the appeals made [21]. In so doing, it has the potential to set up in children poor eating habits which can adversely impact their long-term health. Food advertisements are promoted as fun and exciting and entice children with premium offers (give-aways and prizes). The promotion of premium offers are often the dominant appeal in advertisements, in direct contravention to the Australian Broadcasting Authority standard requiring that "any reference to a premium offer should be incidental to the main product being advertised" [15,22]. 7. Many public health, education and consumer groups have expressed concern that young children are at risk of being negatively influenced by the vigorous marketing strategies employed by television food advertisers [15,22]. 8. Both national and state health policies have identified the need to address food advertising in the context of promoting children's health [23,24,25,26]. 9. Other countries have tighter regulations on advertising during children's viewing time. In Sweden and Canadian Quebec, advertising directed at children is prohibited [27,28] 10. Food advertising during children's viewing times is largely self-regulated by the advertising industry, with very few controls by the Australian Broadcasting Authority. There are only two standards in the Australian Broadcasting Authority's Children's Television Standards which are relevant to food advertising. These standards relate to misleading or deceptive content of advertisements (CTS 17), and reference to premium offers being incidental to the main product(CTS 20). Many critics consider that the regulations are not vigorously applied to food advertising and that self-regulation is not working in the interests of children [22,28]. The Public Health Association of Australia affirms the following principles: 11. The media is an important source of education for children and constant bombardment with food advertisements promoting foods of low nutritional value is not consistent with a positive environment for teaching children about healthy food choices. 12. Children deserve to be protected from commercial exploitation, especially when this has the potential to compromise their health. The Government has a responsibility to provide the policy framework for private activities such as food advertising to children. 13. The public health system has a responsibility to recognise the structural and environmental determinants of health and to advocate for a media environment which supports healthy food choices for children [29] The PHAA believes that the following steps should be taken: 14. Government should support children's programs to screen a quota of healthy food advertisements or messages. 15. Food advertising during children's viewing times should be more tightly regulated with respect to information, and messages and meanings /appeals. 16. Guidelines should be developed for advertisers, which articulate acceptable practice with respect to the Australian Broadcasting Authority standards. The Public Health Association of Australia resolves to take the following actions: 17. Through its Executive Committee, Branches and Special Interest Groups, to campaign vigorously for tighter controls on food advertising during children's viewing time. 18. Lobby for messages consistent with recommendations for healthy eating to be screened during children's viewing time. 19. Encourage research into the impact of food advertising on children's food preferences. Adopted at the 1999 Annual General Meeting of the Public Health Association of Australia. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For references, please send e-mail to , and put Refs #6 in subject box. To subscribe to the PFPC NEWSLETTER, send message to pfpc@istar.ca and put "subscribe" in subject box. Likewise, to unsubscribe, put "cancel" in subject box.