WOOOO-HOO! This is THE BEST news in a decade around here! (Thank You, SOPHIE19)
And it'll do it even WITHOUT
Iodine :) (I just KNEW it was going to be a plant put on this Earth to save our sorry butts from our sorry selves - well, save our butts from 'their' sorry selves).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uid...
Effect of tamarind ingestion on fluoride excretion in humans.
* Khandare AL,
* Rao GS,
* Lakshmaiah N.
National Institute of Nutrition, Indian Council of Medical Research, Hyderabad, India. alkhandare@yahoo.com
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of tamarind (Tamarindus indicus) ingestion on excretion of fluoride in school children. DESIGN: Randomized, diet-control study. SUBJECT: Twenty healthy boys were included and 18 of them completed the study. INTERVENTIONS: Each subject consumed 10 g tamarind daily with lunch for 18 days at the social welfare boys' hostel. The nutrient composition of the daily diet was constant throughout the experimental period. RESULTS: Tamarind intake led to significant increase (P<0.001) in the excretion of fluoride in 24 h urine (4.8+/-0.22 mg/day) as compared to excretion on control diet (3.5+/-0.22 mg/day). However, excretion of magnesium and zinc decreased significantly (7.11+/-1.48 mg of Mg and 252.88+/-12.84 microg of Zn per day on tamarind diet as compared to 23.39+/-3.68 mg of Mg and 331.78+/-35.31 microg Zn per day on control diet). Excretion of calcium and phosphorous were not significantly different while creatinine excretion decreased with tamarind intake (225.66+/-81 mg creatinine/day with tamarind and 294.5+/-78.76 mg creatinine/day without tamarind). CONCLUSION: Tamarind intake is likely to help in delaying progression of fluorosis by enhancing urinary excretion of fluoride.
and here:
http://www.nutritionsocietyindia.org/newsletters/Newsletter-June2005.pdf
DEFLUORIDATION OF WATER AT DOMESTIC LEVEL. Anjali Kakhandki
and Pushpa Bharati, College of Rural Home Science, University of Agricultural
Sciences, Dharwad. E-mail: anjali_kakhandki@yahoo.co.in.
An investigation on defluoridation of water at domestic level was carried out
after conducting the preliminary survey to know the existing methods of
processing drinking water. The survey indicated that none of the respondents
processed the water to reduce fluoride content. Water containing fluoride of
10.5 ppm was collected from endemic fluorosis area of Gadag district (Village
Kalkeri) and subjected to defluoridation using water hyacinth, tamarind, alum
and calcium chloride. The defluoridators at the concentration of 500 mg, 1000
mg and 1500 mg were allowed to remain in contact with water for six to 24
hours. Both raw and treated water were analysed for quality parameters, (pH,
electrical conductivity, total hardness, alkalinity and fluoride) and
microbiological quality for the presence of E.coli. Alum was further tried at 25
mg, 50 mg and 100 mg concentrations. Treatment of water with water hyacinth
could not reduce the fluoride. The pH of water treated with alum and tamarind
reduced to 3.45 irrespective of the contact time and concentration. Calcium
chloride resulted in high electrical conductivity of 19 dS/m followed by alum (9.0
dS/m) and tamarind (2.9 dS/m). The total hardness of water increased to
46.10; mg/l on treating with tamarind and 43.55 mg/l as CaCO3 in alum. A high
hardness of 813.15 mg/l as CaCO3 was obtained, on treating with calcium
chloride at 1500 mg/100 ml. The fluoride content of water reduced to
permissible limit on treating with alum and calcium chloride (1.5 ppm), while
tamarind treatment reduced the fluoride only to 3.91 ppm. When the alum was
used at 25 mg/100 ml for 18 hours of contact, all the parameters were within
the permissible limit. This treatment was recommended for large scale use.
Alum treated water was accepted on par with municipal water and no
significant difference was noticed in cooking quality and acceptability of dhal.
___
The drop in fluoride wasn't as big as with alum/calcium, but it's still a significant drop.
WOOHOO (again) 'Gotta get me some of that tamarind! (and out here in the sticks of Iowa it's ain't gonna be likely I'll be stumbling across any at a local market :(
Uny