Osteosarcomas, Neutering and ... Fluoride?

(This blog originally posted on 4/13/2006).

Well here's a bit of an eye-opener to digest.

Fox news reports that increased amounts of fluoride in the water supply are linked to increased risk of osteosarcomes in human males. This raises questions about a link of canine osteosarcomas to fluoride in the water supply as well.

So is that it? Fluoride -> Osteosarcoma and the whole concern about neutering before one year of age was unfounded? Rottweiler Study

Sure a lot of the neuter early, neuter often crowd would like it to be. But there was something else in this report that caught Ms. X's eye.

The risk peaked for boys who drank more highly fluoridated water between the ages of 6 and 8 years -- a time at which children undergo a major growth spurt. By the time they were 20, these boys got bone cancer 5.46 times more often than boys with the lowest consumption.

"Major Growth Spurt". Well, when a dog is neutered young, the bones grow for a longer period of time than dogs that are not neutered, resulting in taller dogs and the distinct potential to accumulate more flouride in the bones.

Could fluoride be the mechanism that answers the question of how neutering effects osteosarcoma development?

Gosh, exciting stuff!