Knowledge Level and Consumption Behavior of Native Plants, Meats, and Drinking Waters with High Fluoride Concentrations about the Relation to the Potential Health Risk of Fluoride in Lamphun Province Thailand: A Case Study

Wittaya Tewarangsri, Tippawan Chaiwong, Kongkea Phan, Chaipat Lapinee and Sanhawat Chaiwong
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Wittaya Tewarangsri: Informatics Innovation Center of Excellence, Walailak University, Nakhon Si Thammarat 80160, Thailand
Tippawan Chaiwong: Emergency Room Department, Dok Kham Tai Hospital, Phayao 56120, Thailand
Kongkea Phan: Faculty of Science and Technology, International University, Phnom Penh 12101, Cambodia
Chaipat Lapinee: Department of Chemistry, School of Science, University of Phayao, Phayao 56000, Thailand
Sanhawat Chaiwong: School of Public Health, Walailak University, Nakhon Si Thammarat 8016, Thailand

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 14, 1-24

Abstract: Fluoride exposure from natural, agricultural, and industrial sources has harmed people living in fluoride-affected areas. Fluoride accumulates in the human body after being exposed to it through the food chain. The population consisted of 371 community health volunteers who were surveyed and chosen based on personal fluoride information. Only 39 residents were chosen to be interviewed and take part in the trial, which involved drinking fluoride-containing groundwater (>1.5 part per million: ppm) and urine testing that revealed urine fluoride level (>0.7 ppm). In addition, 47 biological samples and eight commercially bottled water specimens were examined. The information was gathered in four ways: (1) a questionnaire-based survey of fluoride knowledge, (2) food consumption behavior with locally grown vegetables, fruits, poultry, and meat, and commercially bottled water produced by groundwater in fluoride-affected areas, (3) a semi-food frequency questionnaire, and (4) fluoride content measurements using an ion-selective electrode. According to the analyses, the participants ranged in age from 51 to 60 years, with approximately 60.38% of them female and born and raised in polluted areas. The majority of subjects had a low level of fluoride knowledge (65.23%). The respondents’ primary source of drinking water (100.00%) was commercially bottled water; they chewed camellia sinensis 11.56% of the time (1 to 5 years) and they drank tea 9.16% of the time (during 1 to 5 years). Sus scrofa domesticus was responsible for the intake of vegetables and fruits, whereas Brassica chinensis, Jusl var para-chinensis (Bailey), and Tsen and Lee were responsible for the intake of poultry and animal flesh. They were all purchased at a local farm. The hazard quotient was greater than one, and the fluoride concentration (ppm) ranged between 75.00% (0.29–5.20), 57.14% (0.01–0.46), 88.89% (0.07–0.91), 100.00% (0.43–3.07), 100.00% (0.58–0.77), 42.86% (0.12–0.62 ppm.), 60.00% (0.11–1.44), and 33.33% (0.10–0.80) in drinking water, fruit, young and mature plants. Fluoride ingestion may pose a health concern. Under the 95th percentile condition, 74.47% consumed water with a high fluoride level, vegetables and fruits, and poultry and meats.

Keywords: fluoride knowledge; consumptive behavior; health risk assessment; village health volunteers (VHVs); Lamphun (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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