Does Filtered Water Contain Fluoride?

Some filtered water does contain fluoride. The fluoride content of filtered water depends on the type of filtration used.

Reverse Osmosis

• Reverse osmosis removes contaminants from water, depending on the size of the molecule. All molecular compounds that are smaller than water are removed through the filtration process. This process does not differentiate between favorable minerals and dangerous materials. While it does filter out fluoride, it also filters out manganese and iron, which are important minerals to get from drinking water.

Distillation

• Distilled water is made by through a process of boiling water. All of the contaminants that have higher boiling points than water are removed. This eliminates nearly all of the healthy minerals from the water along with fluoride. While distilled water is important for use in machines like those in the printing or medical industries, it is not the healthiest water to drink.

Active Carbon

• This is the most popular type of filtration for home water treatments including PUR and Brita filters. This method filters water by running it over carbon that has had a positive charge added. Carbon naturally traps contaminants on its surface, but the positive charge turns the carbon into a magnet attracting the negative charged ions of the contaminants. This type of filtration leaves the fluoride in the water, but removes chlorine, lead, pesticides and many organic contaminants like microbes.