Fluorine in Fish Pastes

Abstract

THOUGH there is much interest at the moment in the fluorine constituent of the diet, appreciation of the benefits to be obtained from certain types of food which have recently been shown to contain fluorine is by no means new. For example, in ancient Tibet the most cherished gifts received by a new mother consisted of powdered yak bone and pigs' knuckles. In India a diet of rice and fish, from which the bones were discarded, commonly resulted in calcium deficiency, which was remedied when small whole fish were included in the diet. In Deaf Smith Country, Texas, where the fluorine content of the water is 2·2–2·7 parts per million, the inhabitants are reputed to have a very low dental caries susceptibility. In a recent investigation on the Tyneside, it has been suggested that the delayed onset of caries in a section of the population may be due to the fact that the water supply to this particular area contains 1·4 parts of fluorine per million. The Eskimos of the Pacific northwest have superb teeth and their diet includes soft fish bones which contain 250 parts per million of fluorine.