Should we all stop eating bananas?
If we're comparing their radiation to fukushima fallout, should we be avoiding them? Seriously though, I eat one every day. Maybe I should stop.
If we're comparing their radiation to fukushima fallout, should we be avoiding them? Seriously though, I eat one every day. Maybe I should stop.
There is no good reason to
There is no good reason to stop eating bananas. The banana is used as a generally recognized safe food source with an established radiation exposure measurement that is extremely low and considered safe as people have been consuming them for centuries with no known toxic effect.
In fact, using the same Recognized Safe Food Items Scale one banana is nearly equal to 6 ounces of Noritaki mushrooms (Pre Fukushima) 14 ounces whale blubber (Atlantic, or Pacific blubber Pre Fukushima) and is considerably safer than consuming 24 ounces of prunes. Interestingly, frogs legs are very high on the scale and consumption of more than 4 frogs legs per day is considered unsafe. In fact they are considered to be equal to 1/3rd of the exposure of a single chest X-ray.
The Recognized Safe Food Items Scale was created decades ago as a reference that would allow people to understand, in simple terms, the exposure levels of radiation that occur naturally and how it relates to we humans.
Note that the Recognized Safe Food Items Scale lists a large number of foods not generally recognized by Western peoples but are consumed by other peoples worldwide.
Eat fruits and vegetables
Mom was RIGHT,
We should eat our fruits and vegetables. Potassium (K) is an essential nutrient. Without K, you would soon develop heart failure and die. Unfortunately for all life on earth, all dietary potassium (K) is a source of the radioactive (K-40) isotope.
While it is technically possible to 'Fix the Banana', it is not presently econonically feasible to do so. And it is doubtful that anyone, anywhere is working on solving that radionuclide related public health problem.
The matter has been extensively discussed on the BRAWM webpage at this URL:
http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/node/4907
Fixing the Banana
Other sources of internal radiation can be more easily reduced. So for example, elimination of MOX fuel and closure of all GE Mark1 and Mark2 technology containment systems on earth. Avoiding mineral water and unnecessary medical XRays would also be advisable. Avoiding food from Ukraine, the North West Pacific and Japan would be WAY up there on the 'good idea list'.
check your house for radon
The biggest long term controllable risk is due to radon in the home.
Potassium 40 may be causing lots of cancers, but there's no way to reduce the need for the essential potassium in your body. Good nutrition probably helps the body repair any damage done by natural radiation, so eat those fruits and vegetables.
Keep eating bananas..
Keep eating bananas... and don't be overly-concerned about Fukushima.