Comment on a Published Paper "Correlation between Fluoride in Drinking Water and Its Levels in Breast Milk in Golestan Province, Northern Iran".

Dear Editor-in-Chief

We would like to congratulate Faraji et al for their recent publication entitled “Correlation between Fluoride in Drinking Water and Its Levels in Breast Milk in Golestan Province, Northern Iran” (1). However, there is a question on the Materials and Methods section of this paper. It seems that the inclusion and exclusion criteria have not been included accurately in this section. For example, the people who have been studied whether taking fluoride supplements (2) or not, also what was their diet (e.g., the amount of drinking tea)?

With regard to 2 comments raised as: “ It seems that the inclusion and exclusion criteria have not been included accurately in this section. For example, the people who have been studied whether taking fluoride supplements or not, also what is their diet (e.g., the amount of drinking tea)? “ on our paper (1), fluoride has been determined in powdered milk consumed by infants as well (2, 3). The average amount of tea liquor consumed by Iranian people is about 1/lit/d/person (4). The minimum and maximum amount of fluoride in black tea liquor was 0.53 and 2.6 mg/l, respectively (5).These amounts are all safe for infants and in case the amount of fluoride is high in the water for preparation of tea, it should be removed (6).

As, face to face interview and completing a questionnaire, the dietary regime and the amount of tea consumed by the studied mothers were almost the same and therefore the amount of fluoride in the mother’s milk is affected by amount of consumed tea liquor and the tea brands. No correlation was found between fluoride concentration and consumption of tea. Most of the daily intake fluoride is discharged by urinary system and less is deposited in body and can be tracked in mother’s milk. No mouthwash and not any fluoride supplements were taken by mothers. Ultimately, our aim was to determine the relationship between fluoride in breast milk and drinking water.