Hello! ABC Science reporter Belinda Smith here, dishing up your weekly serve of health news from the ABC.
 

Growing up in western Victoria on Wotjobaluk, Jaadwa, Jadawadjali, Wergaia and Jupagik Country, my family drank tank water. Not for any health reasons, but because that's what we had.
 

As an adult, I have a few more fillings than I'd like, despite using fluoridated toothpaste my whole life.
 

This reflects what studies have routinely found since the early 20th century, when researchers noticed residents of US towns with fluoride in their water supply had unusually low cavity rates compared to towns without fluoride in their water.
 

But small studies in the early 2000s found some places with naturally high levels of fluoride in their water supplies from surrounding rocks also had children with lower IQ levels.
 

So does fluoride in your typical town drinking water affect kids' cognition too?
 

The answer is a resounding no, according to decades of research, which concludes that consuming fluoride at recommended levels in drinking water has no adverse effects.
 

Of course, if you consume extremely high levels of fluoride, you might see some effects, although they're likely show up as stains on your teeth before you experience cognitive issues.
 

And as Ellen Phiddian wrote in her excellent explainer on the topic, you'd have to slurp down a full tube of toothpaste to get near toxic fluoride levels.
 

Also this week: Health star ratings on food are likely to become mandatory with only 37 per cent of products currently carrying them, and dementia is now the leading cause of death across Australia, according to the latest report by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
 

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