The nuclear reactor meltdown in Japan has provoked fears about radioactivity and the implications to your health. Many anxious patients and readers called in last week to inquire about the health threats of radiation. This article is an attempt to address any radiation concerns you may have, relating both to the reactor meltdown and everyday exposure in normal life. Read on to discover natural ways to protect yourself from exposure and reduce radiation load on your body.
First, you should know that radioactivity from Japan has little impact on U.S. citizens. Take a look at the numbers. To date, the news reports that the four reactors in partial meltdown spewed radiation as high as 500 meters or 1,640 feet, according to John Beddington, U.K.'s Chief science officer. In comparison, the Chernobyl blast sent radioactive particles 30,000 feet high for months. Although it is true that minute radiation was detected in Sacramento at the end of last week, it was so minor -- one-millionth of what people get from natural background radiation -- that health officials assured the public that it posed no threat to residents on the west coast of the United States.
Wherever you live, avoid foods grown on or raised near the fallout zone. Dairy and spinach produced within the radioactive zone in Japan had vastly elevated radioactivity, which the Japanese government discouraged its people from consuming. Radioactivity was also found in Pacific waters, off the northern coast near the nuclear plant. Over time, this radioactivity should dissipate as the reactor is cooled and stops spewing particle ash and dust. For now it is wise to avoid seafood caught in Japanese waters. Other than avoiding potentially contaminated food, there should be no concern for American residents, so no need to panic or go out and hoard potassium iodide pills, let alone take them!
Radiation Risks 101
There is much misinformation about radiation that I would like to attempt to clarify here.
What is Radiation? To understand the risk of radiation to your health, it helps to know what it is. There are two types of radiation, and the first type, electromagnetic (EM) waves, range from low energy to high energy. Low energy EM includes electrical, infrared, visible light, and ultraviolet (UV). These, with the exception of UV, are relatively harmless and can even be therapeutic, such as the far infrared wave. At the high energy end of EM are the diagnostic and therapeutic x-rays like gamma rays. As these are more powerful, exposure must be monitored and limited.
Particle radiation, the second type, includes electron, proton, and neutron beams produced from splitting unstable atoms from plutonium and uranium -- as in a nuclear reactor or bomb. High exposure to these types of radiation can cause genetic defects, cancer, and death. For instance, a 2009 New York Academy of Sciences report on the death toll in the European fallout zone of the Chernobyl accident indicated that from 1986 to 2005 one million people died from genetic damage caused by the radioactive fallout. Additionally, numerous people suffered from thyroid cancer and leukemia.
We live with radiation all around us. The sun and stars, rocks, earth, and even our own bones emit natural background radiation. Radiation also comes from television, smoke detectors, and microwave ovens. It is estimated that the annual average of acceptable exposure from the above natural and equipment radiation is around one millisieverts or mSv. If this data doesn't mean much to you, let's put it in context. If the average acceptable exposure for each person is one mSv per year -- and for illustrative purposes, we'll say this is equal to one truckload -- then a simple chest x-ray is approximately 0.03 truckload. Said another way, it would take around 33 chest x-rays for a person to reach their yearly radiation allowance.
Medical diagnostic tests expose you to radiation, but the amount varies. As just mentioned, a chest x-ray leaves you open to a small amount of radiation. An upper GI x-ray is equal to about three truckloads, and a CT scan is around four truckloads. This number may sound alarming, but if you had a condition that required diagnostic imaging, it would be foolish to avoid it and delay treatments that could potentially save your life.
Natural ways to reduce radiation load in your body
These are some simple ways for everyone to reduce exposure and radiation load:
• Introduce more chlorophyll-rich foods into your diet, such as seaweed, kelp, blue-green algae, spirulina, and chlorella. These plants contain rich minerals, including iodine, that bind up the receptors site in your thyroid so that any radioactive iodine that you end up being exposed to will be unable to harm your thyroid. These foods also contain potent antioxidants, like selenium, that prevent destructive free radical activity and cancerous growth, as well as chelating agents that bind to toxins and eliminate them from your body.
• Eat antioxidant-rich foods of every color, especially cherries, blueberries, pomegranates, yams, and sweet potatoes. The variety of antioxidants found in these foods help your body to mop up free radicals and toxins.
• Drink six to eight 8-ounce glasses of filtered water every day to flush and hydrate your system.
• Consider taking vitamin C, E, and D to assist antioxidant actions within your body. Also, alpha lipoic acid is a nutrient that protects cells from radiation damage.
• Herbs like dandelion, peppermint, and chrysanthemum help the body detoxify.
• Undergoing a medically supervised detox program like the Tao of Wellness Detox Retreat can support your body's cleansing function.
I hope this article helps to clarify radiation's impact on your health and that you will use the information to live long, live strong and live happy.
You can find many more environmental tips to protect your longevity in Secrets of Longevity: Hundreds of Ways to Live to Be 100, which is now available on Kindle. If you are interested in a lifestyle program designed to transform your health and lengthen your years, check out my new book Secrets of Longevity 8-Week Program.
Follow Dr. Maoshing Ni on Twitter: www.twitter.com/taoofwellness
Leo Galland, M.D.: Unexpected Radiation Risks From X-Rays
U.S. EPA Radiation Protection Division
I know this is kinda off topic but if you hot compost your "raw" waste, then plant peas the nitrogen in the pea root should "repair" most damage done to the soil by ways of organic depletion. In turn you can plant healthy food that has actual nutrients! Be cautious of grocery food for most things have been "radiated" to prolong shelf life (all red meats, and fruit). Also, "organic" by FDA standards rule is it can't be treated with a heavy pesticide within 7 days to be considered "organic", this is not organic.
I do not agree with the belief that the radiation coming from Japan, is not affecting the whole earth. We have one atmosphere. That atmosphere is very different than what it was when Chernobyl spewed. We have micro-metals floating around in the air. Those frozen water vapors that are not supposed to stay and spread in the air over 3 miles and cover whole city sections of the sky, .. that come out of planes, are not water vapors.
Our atmosphere is filled with "stuff." Yes, I can be specific,but that's not the point. The point is, along with purposeful attempts at blocking out the sun, our atmosphere has become almost like a "Venus," type of atmosphere. Don't ask NASA. Ask the Japanese, who recently set a rocket up, and have seen the earth.
Yes, this radiation will affect everyone. To what degree? We don't know. Well, at least, I don't.
It's kind of humorous, how this article starts out with reassurance, but then, gives you survival techniques. lolI guess it's better to be safe, than radiated.
Also, gamma rays are not a "type" of x-ray. They are exactly the same - other than place of origin. X-rays come from the electrons of an atom, gamma rays are emitted by the nucleus.
Knowing how frequency radiation compares to a chest x-ray is completely useless information to anyone not within shooting distance of the accident site! Rather, informing us of the well known affects to the hematopoietic, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, and central nervous system from ingested alpha and beta particles and telling us how we might avoid contact all together is critical to our survival!
It should also be noted that airborne nuclides (particle radiation) IS NOT DETECTABLE by normal measuring equipment such as geiger counters! Geiger counter can detect presence of nuclides in materials such as foods, air-filters, or in a person's hair but when they are airborne they little or no affect on the readings from geiger counters. One must trust governmental monitoring services and accurate fall-out models to inform us.
So far neither the United States government not the Japanese government is willing to inform us of any of this data. And both DO compile it - both in real-time and modeled!
Thank you.
That is entirely untrue. While air sampling should be used to determine precise concentrations, GM counters as well as ion chambers are used to detect the presence of radioactivity and/or to determine exposure rates.
Kudos for thinking to offer potential solutions! Next this article gets points for quoting the correct number of deaths associated with Chernobyl. You'd be surprised to learn how many Chernobyl deniers there are still claiming than only 2,000 people were affected and etc.
Detracting from the informative impact this article might have had is that after the author correctly identifies and distinguishes particle from frequency radiation he goes on to discus dosages from frequency radiation and doesn't focus on the fact that almost all of the one million Chernobyl deaths were due to internal particle radiation (contamination). Basically minute radioactive specs (like dust) that were inhaled or ingested.
Once radioactive particles are internalized they often stick around inside a person's body for years making the exposure chronic. Sure, eating right and forming special diets to combat the affects of chronic exposure to internal radiation is a good idea but prevention from internalizing them in the first place is much more significant in the prevention of illness or death!
We need to be informed of when, where, and in what quantities we as individual citizens might be exposed to such radioactive "dust specs". This information is critical to survival! Also informing people such as those down-wind from an accident, who ARE likely to be affected, as to how to avoid contact via filtration, shelter integrity, hygiene, and equipment such as paper face-mask cups and etc., is of the upmost importance in minimizing sickness and death.
OH I FORGGOT to telll you I live 2 miles from a nuclear plant and I can see the towers everyday, smoking.
The fish below the nuclear plant will not drink the water.
Been here for 50 years .....waiting to here the sirens
The boys at the plant tell me not to wary ,but my grass glows avery night when the moon is out ..I don't know if this is emitted radiation or not...they will not sell me a counter to check how much radiation is being emitted.
Its enough to warm bread,tho.....
One Friday afternoon I was working in the yard and the sirens went off. I looked around, my neighbors didn't even take notice, and we all kept right on doing what we were doing. There were some wildfires in the county, so I suppose that 's why they went off. Never found out for sure.
Anyhow, I will admit to being slightly more concerned that before the Japan incident and will probably beef up my bug out bag, but for the most part I still feel this is as good a place to be as any. Quiet and peaceful. And I eat what I grow.
You might find something at this site. Some good stuff.
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com
I have read this: "You can eat as much seaweed as you want. Brown seaweeds are highest in iodine. They include all forms of kelp. Fucus, also known as Bladderwrack, is considered to be the best for underactive thyroids. Hijiki and Sargassum are two other forms of brown seaweeds. Red seaweeds include dulse, nori, Irish moss, and Gracillaria.
Since toasting doesn’t affect seaweed’s iodine content, you can eat it dried or dried and toasted. Toast some in the oven or in a dry frying pan to see if you prefer that taste. You can also powdered seaweed to your food or add larger pieces of seaweed to soups, grains, or vegetables. Seaweed should be an enjoyable addition to your diet, not an unpleasant experience. If you simply don’t like its taste, you can get it in capsules."