Safety risk assessment of fluoride in brick-tea and consideration and suggestions on its limit in China at the present stage / 中华地方病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Drinking brick-tea type of endemic fluorosis is a kind of chronic fluorosis caused by excessive intake of fluoride into the body from long-term and high consumption of brick-tea, milk tea, butter tea, or other tea drinks with high fluoride content. It mainly distributes in seven western provinces of China, including Tibet Autonomous Region, Qinghai Province, Sichuan Province, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Gansu Province, and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. In order to govern the production and sale of brick-tea and control the epidemic of drinking brick-tea type of endemic fluorosis, the former Ministry of Health of China issued the national standard "Fluoride Content of Brick-tea" (GB 19965-2005) in 2005, which stipulated that the total amount of water-soluble inorganic fluorine in brick-tea should not exceed 300 mg/kg. In the past 20 years, the prevalence of drinking brick-tea type of endemic fluorosis in China became clear gradually, and the habit of drinking brick-tea of residents in the epidemic fluorosis area also changed to some extent. In this paper, the dose-effect relationship between fluoride intake from brick-tea and skeletal fluorosis is reviewed, the brick-tea consumption of residents in the endemic fluorosis areas is analyzed, and the safety risk of brick-tea fluoride exposure is evaluated. It is suggested that the fluoride limit of brick-tea, ≤300 mg/kg, is still suitable for the prevention and control of drinking brick-tea type of endemic fluorosis in China at the present stage.