Natural compounds for radiation protection

[hilbert2]

TL;DR Summary

This thread is about supplements and foods that make you more tolerant to ionizing radiation.

The "sleep hormone" melatonin, sold at health supplement stores, has been found to prevent radiation sickness from ionizing radiation:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30073934/

There are also some other references for this findable with a Google search. But you don't want to be on melatonin pills 24/7 because that can affect your hormone balance. In addition to this, the amino acid glutamine and a moderate amount of caffeine can also protect against radiation from unstable nuclei

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5039571/

Flavonoids in some vegetables such as tomato are also believed to be radioprotective. Synthetic drugs with radiation protection effect include the compound entolimod.

So apart from the normal recommended potassium iodide tablets, these can make survival more likely if a nuclear catastrophe happens. With the current war in East Europe, this can be interesting to many people.

 

[pinball1970]

Summary: This thread is about supplements and foods that make you more tolerant to ionizing radiation.

The "sleep hormone" melatonin, sold at health supplement stores, has been found to prevent radiation sickness from ionizing radiation:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30073934/

There are also some other references for this findable with a Google search. But you don't want to be on melatonin pills 24/7 because that can affect your hormone balance. In addition to this, the amino acid glutamine and a moderate amount of caffeine can also protect against radiation from unstable nuclei

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5039571/

Flavonoids in some vegetables such as tomato are also believed to be radioprotective. Synthetic drugs with radiation protection effect include the compound entolimod.

So apart from the normal recommended potassium iodide tablets, these can make survival more likely if a nuclear catastrophe happens. With the current war in East Europe, this can be interesting to many people.

If it does go down like that then those things will not be available to us.
At least not after and that will be just one thing.
Far worse things @hilbert2
I don't want to jump the gun but we may have avoided that disaster in February.

 

[jim mcnamara]

This explains the role of melatonin in glutathione synthesis and regulation:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jorge-Limon-Pacheco/publication/46424896_The_Glutathione_System_and_its_Regulation_by_Neurohormone_Melatonin_in_the_Central_Nervous_System/links/5dd858e8a6fdccdb445c3910/The-Glutathione-System-and-its-Regulation-by-Neurohormone-Melatonin-in-the-Central-Nervous-System.pdf

Glutathione cleans up reactive oxygen species (ROS)- example H₂O₂ - left over from Krebs Cycle. Low levels of glutathione are a precursor to unwanted inflammatory diseases - example autoimmune diseases. Inflammation and autoimmune disease are major public health issues. A lot of disease processes associated with aging are considered as inflammatory mediated.
Inflammation 101:
https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/conditions/inflammation/index.cfm

Melatonin is synthesized by the pineal gland when you are asleep. During the day, Melatonin is synthesized in mitochondria on exposure to near infrared light(NIR) by the cytochrome C cascade. NIR can penetrate several inches into human tissues on sunny days if the sun is intense enough - i.e., not low in the sky like during winter at latitudes > 35 degrees N or S . This fact helps to explain winter peaks for morbidity ("severity and occurrence rate") of certain infectious diseases, influenza for example. It also explains to some degree why certain age classes of populations tend to have more bad infections - example: old folks tend stay inside more than younger people. They get less NIR by staying inside more.

NIR is usually defined as 800nm - 2500 nm wavelength. Human visible spectrum ends at about 770nm, so we cannot see NIR.
See: https://www.shimadzu.com/an/service-support/technical-support/analysis-basics/tips-ftir/nir1.html

 

[Laroxe]

This might be interesting, there has been quite a lot of work on antioxidants in cancer and radiotherapy. Kelp is available as a supplement and is a rich source of iodine, other radionuclides which can be absorbed are less of an immediate threat but may still be blocked by some common mineral supplements.

The best advice is to be as far away from the radiation source and its products as possible, surrounded by thick barriers of dense materials.

https://academic.oup.com/jn/article/134/11/3207S/4688649?login=false

 

[gleem]

Here is a pharmacological guide to natural radioprotectors.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6224001/

FWIIW Iodine in the form of KI is strictly not a radioprotector of the thyroid but saturates the thyroid with natural iodine preventing further uptake of radioiodine. The thyroid remains sensitive to gamma and x radiation from external sources.

 

[TeethWhitener]

I have colleagues working on this!
https://www.navy.mil/Press-Office/N...gal-experiment-launches-as-artemis-i-payload/
Now if they can just get the danged rocket off the ground…

 

[Rive]

Summary: This thread is about supplements and foods that make you more tolerant to ionizing radiation.

So apart from the normal recommended potassium iodide tablets, these can make survival more likely if a nuclear catastrophe happens. With the current war in East Europe, this can be interesting to many people.

Since the topic is kind of flagged as 'public interest' regarding some possible nuclear event, I would like to mention some additional things before this goes the way food supplements used to.

The nuclear type iodine pills are not comparable to any kind of consumer product. Iodized salt and iodine pills used in cases of some thyroid problems cannot (should not: must not) be used to replace them. If they (ever) got recommended or rather: issued then only get the originals, only as long and in doses as they are prescribed.

By the way, it's really unlikely that they will be issued in any other areas not very close proximity of the site, even if things turns really bad. And that have plenty of reasons. Any self-initiated 'preparation' or 'protection' would do (far) more harm than good.

In case of an unfortunate event basic personal protection (well, mostly the same things we were trained due the Covid pandemic) likely would prove to be far more useful and available, with less potential harm.

 

[hilbert2]

By the way, it's really unlikely that they will be issued in any other areas not very close proximity of the site, even if things turns really bad. And that have plenty of reasons. Any self-initiated 'preparation' or 'protection' would do (far) more harm than good.

In case of an unfortunate event basic personal protection (well, mostly the same things we were trained due the Covid pandemic) likely would prove to be far more useful and available, with less potential harm.

Sure, in the case of a nuclear disaster anyone who even has access to media should primarily follow the instructions from the authorities. And there's no reason to consume any of the mentioned supplements in amounts that wouldn't count as "normal use". Vitamin C seems to be a radioprotective too, at least against some of the harmful effects, but it wouldn't make much sense to take any more than 1000 - 1500 milligrams of it a day even in that situation.

Even a small amount of additional radiation in the atmosphere, from some nuclear disaster far away, can make the occurrence of some diseases more common, and it wouldn't do much harm if people who act reasonably (and don't consume a whole bottle of melatonin pills and 3 liters of coffee in panic) take into consideration that something sold at the grocery store can protect against that.

Edit: The way how I condone people having some ability to respond to this kind of risks without orders from superiors is what I would call a "mercenary mentality", where you also want to be able to represent just yourself and not only your home country. But that's not something that is good for people too simple to understand what they're doing.