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Fluoride in water

Fluoride in bottled water is geological, not added. EU law caps it at 5.0 mg per litre for natural mineral water and requires a specific warning above 1.5 mg per litre because of young children. Here is what the limits are, which waters publish a figure, and how to think about the total.

This is a reference table, not a diagnosis and not a prescription. If a clinician has put you on a sodium, calcium, potassium or fluid restriction, that number comes from them and overrides anything here. Analyses are revised as sources are re-tested, so the label on the bottle you are holding always outranks this page.

Three numbers, three different jobs

5.0 mg per litre is a ceiling. Directive 2003/40/EC, which sets the constituent limits for natural mineral waters, does not allow a water above it to be sold as natural mineral water in the EU at all. Producers may remove excess fluoride by a permitted treatment, and where they do, the label has to say so.

1.5 mg per litre is a labelling trigger, not a ceiling. Above it the bottle must state that the water contains more than 1.5 mg per litre of fluoride and is not suitable for regular consumption by infants and children under seven. The water is still legal and still fine for adults; the warning exists because of the developing tooth.

1.0 mg per litre is the Annex III threshold above which a label may say "contains fluoride". It is a compositional indication like "contains calcium", not a recommendation.

Separately, tap water in the EU has a parametric value of 1.5 mg per litre under Directive (EU) 2020/2184 — the same number, arrived at for the same reason, in a different legal instrument.

Which waters publish a fluoride figure

Most producers do not publish fluoride at all, which is why this table is short. An absent figure means the constituent was not among the characteristic ones the producer chose to declare — it does not mean zero. If fluoride matters to your household, the current label is the only place to settle it, and a producer will supply a full analysis on request.

Thinking about the total, not the bottle

EFSA's adequate intake for fluoride is expressed per kilogram of body weight — 0.05 mg per kg per day — and it explicitly covers all sources. For an adult of 70 kg that is 3.5 mg a day; for a child of 20 kg it is 1 mg. The reason the reference is framed that way is that fluoride does not arrive from one place. Toothpaste is usually the biggest single contributor for a young child, especially one who has not yet learned to spit reliably, followed by water and then by tea, which concentrates fluoride from the soil into the leaf.

The practical implication is undramatic. For adults, no bottled water legally on sale in the EU presents a fluoride problem. For a household with small children who use fluoride toothpaste and drink a lot of one particular water, it is worth reading that water's figure once. And if you are making up infant formula, the fluoride question sits inside a bigger set of considerations — the infant formula page covers those, and your national infant-feeding guidance and health visitor come before either page.

Analyses: the figures each producer publishes on the label or in its technical sheet — see the basis line on every water page. Reference intakes: EFSA Dietary Reference Values. Label claims: Directive 2009/54/EC, Annex III. Mineral-water constituent limits and the fluoride labelling rule: Directive 2003/40/EC. Tap-water parametric values: Directive (EU) 2020/2184. Checked 2026-09-06.

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