What radio-protective food items do you recommend while we wait for Fukushima's cold shutdown?

I am aware of the following radio-protective food/drink items so far. I have no financial connection with any food stores or manufacturers, but I have personally used these foods for myself and my family for the last 5 years. Most of these are in daily use in the macrobiotic (MB) diet (that's vegan, plus some fish, and once in awhile an egg):

1. Seaweeds: The most radio-protective are the brown seaweeds from the kelp family. Examples include kelp, especially digitata (highest in natural iodine, which protects best against the radioactive iodines) which is from the Atlantic ocean. Pacific ocean examples include kombu...the seaweed in stores this summer was shipped before the disaster in Japan. If in doubt on manufacture date, ask the store manager when it was received. One online seaweed supplier I have bought from recently, and can personally recommend, is Larch Hanson in Maine:

www.theseaweedman.com... -- His seaweed products are checked by a university physicist to make sure that there is no radionuclide contamination.

2. Miso: Misos that have the most protective effect are the long-aged misos (aged as much as 3 years, so that's pre-F already). If your tummy is not used to miso in the diet, it makes a lot of sense to start with sweet brown or sweet white miso, aged just a few months but still has a lot of healing quality to it. Limit yourself to a maximum of 1 level teaspoon a day, though, since miso can be quite salty. The miso is generally sold in a paste form in glass jars or plastic containers. When I am in a rush, I add the miso to a small cup, add just enough hot water to cover the miso, then use a chopstick to thoroughly dissolve the miso in the hot water. Finish by adding your dissolved miso to a small soup bowl with about 4-6 ounces of hot water...there's your soup! Many miso makers, like South River Miso, use only protected well water from very deep wells (in Massachusetts, USA) to make all of their miso products. Note: If the miso itself is heated to boiling (or beyond boiling temperature, as in baking), the protective active ingredient is destroyed; that's the reason that miso soup is considered the most healing way to serve miso. If you buy miso in large quantities, just make sure you store it in a cool place. In a warm climate, storing it in the refrigerator makes the most sense. I have miso in my refrigerator that I have stored for 2+ years that still looks as good as the day I bought it.

Here is a link for the American miso manufacturer whose misos I most often use:

www.southrivermiso.com...

3. Brown rice is a well-known part of the MB diet, and organic versions are definitely the most tasty. It is also radio-protective, according to Tatsuichiro Akizuki, MD, who published a book on the hospital patients he cured post-atomic bomb in Nagasaki:

Nagasaki 1945: The first full-length eyewitness account of the atomic bomb attack on Nagasaki. The author is Tatsuichiro Akizuki (he died in 2005 of old age):
www.amazon.com...=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313778329&sr=1-2

In the summer season, long-grain rices are popular, with short-grain brown rice being the most healthful version used year-round otherwise. Look for heirloom rice; I don't recommend hybrid (sometimes called "new" types of) rice. Best prices I have seen this year are in the bulk food sections of independent natural food stores; most of this type of store will also sell you a 25 or 50-lb sack of organic brown rice (different varieties available) if you ask at their service desk; ordering that way saves you the shipping costs.

4. Sea salt also contains some natural iodine. Sea salt has an unlimited storage life. Because it can react with metal can lids over time, best to store it in a glass mason jar, away from heat. Some sea salt has become very high-priced. The most health-supporting form of sea salt is a whitish salt that is naturally dried (often called solar-dried). The independent natural food stores always have sea salt available at a reasonable price. Cheap sea salt which does not have the drying method indicated is usually kiln-dried; the problem with kiln-drying is that it radically alters the balance of salts: Some sea salt components are volatile and will sublime (evaporate) in kiln heat, which is not where you want to go. Again, you can ask the store manager when the sea salt was delivered to the store. Act now on sea salt purchases, because we know that many tons of radioactive water were dumped into the Pacific ocean from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors, and all of that radiation is going somewhere, eventually. Gray sea salt should be used rarely if ever in any food preparation.

5. Also recommended are umeboshi plums, sometimes just referred to as ume plums. These are small preserved plums (actually umeboshi are from the apricot family) that are also radio-protective. Because of the salt content, have only one plum per day. These can also be bought in the form of ume paste, ready to use, but still quite salty.

6. Green tea? True, green tea has been shown to be radio-protective, but any tea plant has a talent for accumulating a range of toxins, such as environmental radiation, fluoride contamination from water, etc. Therefore, tea shipped pre-F is best. Some packaged products indicate the date they were manufactured. Otherwise, contact the manufacturer's website and tell them the product code number and they will be able to tell you when it was made. Choice Organic tea makes the organic tea variety Ootho Garden Green Tea, grown in India; profits go to the Jane Goodall foundation.

7. Shiitake mushrooms: The highest-quality shiitake mushrooms are the dried mushrooms, and here's what to shop for: 1) Look for a bag of small to medium-sized shiitakes...the variation in sizes is your tipoff that the mushrooms were grown in a natural outdoor setting or with full-spectrum lighting. The highest grade of shiitake is known as "donko" shiitake mushrooms: The donko grade signifies that these mushrooms were grown in the traditional manner, on hardwood logs. Donko grade shiitake mushrooms also have closed caps, which signify that their spores are still contained within the caps. Closed caps are important, because the shiitake mushroom spores are the most medicinally valuable part of these mushrooms. If all you can find are the dried mushrooms that have more open (flatter) caps, then it's important to save and use the "dust" at the bottom of the bag...that's not dust, those are the shiitake mushroom spores, so they are worth saving and eating.

Additional information that confirms the value of the above list of radio-protective foods is in an out-of-print book titled Technology's curse: diet for the atomic age It was written by Sara Shannon, who is a nutritionist. Here is the Amazon listing for back copies of that book, some of which are for sale for less than $5.00, plus the shipping cost:

www.amazon.com...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313780330&sr=1-1

For food purchases online, the main store I recommend is Eden Foods, which has already started testing every container of food products that they have received since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accidents. Here is their position paper on that topic:

www.edenfoods.com...


On the topic of what food ingredients raise the risk factor, all refined sweeteners are at the top of the list. Sigh, I too have a sweet tooth, but there it is (according to T. Akizuki, MD, of the first above-mentioned book).

edit on 8/19/2011 by Uphill because: Added a paragraph.

Avoid pig. Pig absorbs radioactive material more so than most animals.
That's if you're looking for the most safe diet. I still eat pig, tho.

Interesting thread. I could not tell you, as for I am not much of a vegetarian. Fish is definitely an issue if you live on the West coast - the mercury levels are almost as bad as the cesium.

When I read your title though, I wanted to say "cockroaches" - considering how oddly immune they are to radiation I bet they've got lots of juicy protein too. With a lot of butter or honey, they might even beat seaweed.

reply to post by Uphill


Thanks for this. Curious, why refined sugars and sweeteners would be top of the list?

reply to post by Wertwog


Refined sweeteners are only at the top of the "avoid" list, since it is the top food category To Not Eat in order to effectively survive environmental radiation. It has been known for decades that all refined sweeteners have a weakening effect on the human immune system, which is the last thing we need between now and "cold shutdown" at the Fukushima NPP.

Here is a link to a book by a British MD with documentation about the range of human health problems caused by sugars and other refined sweeteners:

www.amazon.com...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313787510&sr=1-1

See the customer comment near the bottom of the screen for discussion about more recent writings by other physicians who further confirm Dr. Yudkin's findings.

Even though this thread is about Radio-Protective Foods, I threw in that caution against refined sweeteners at the end, and explained it that way, because it is the most significant food risk factor known when a NPP radiation release is happening, according to the above-mentioned Dr. Akizuki.

Originally posted by Uphill
reply to post by Wertwog

 

Refined sweeteners are only at the top of the "avoid" list, since it is the top food category To Not Eat in order to effectively survive environmental radiation. It has been known for decades that all refined sweeteners have a weakening effect on the human immune system, which is the last thing we need between now and "cold shutdown" at the Fukushima NPP.

Here is a link to a book by a British MD with documentation about the range of human health problems caused by sugars and other refined sweeteners:

www.amazon.com...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313787510&sr=1-1

See the customer comment near the bottom of the screen for discussion about more recent writings by other physicians who further confirm Dr. Yudkin's findings.

Even though this thread is about Radio-Protective Foods, I threw in that caution against refined sweeteners at the end, and explained it that way, because it is the most significant food risk factor known when a NPP radiation release is happening, according to the above-mentioned Dr. Akizuki.

edit on 8/19/2011 by Uphill because: Added a link.

Thanks uphill! Would honey and stevia be ok?

reply to post by Wertwog


On honey and stevia:

There are factors for and against both of these. If you're going to use honey, get an organic variety; there are so many reports of various problems with non-organic honey. The most pessimistic forecast from an academic person in Japan has been "less than 2 years (from now) for cold shutdown at Fukushima Daiichi." Therefore the best current advice seems to be to get yourself a 2-year supply (several glass bottles) of honey. Helen Caldicott, MD, the anti-nuclear-power campaigner, is adamant in her advice to consume "no European food" (because of residual radiation from Chernobyl); I haven't yet studied the issue of residual radiation in European food, so I don't yet have an opinion on that. There are American and Canadian honeys that are well-liked, so you could consider those.

When the crystalline concentrate of stevia is removed from the leaves of the plant where it grows, there is a bitter aftertaste, especially when a little too much is used. I have heard of a new stevia formulation that avoids the bitterness, but I don't know any brands to recommend.

The best general resource for information on sweeteners online that I have seen so far is from Rebecca Wood, the respected food writer:

www.rwood.com... - This is her website; she also has a blog connected to that site.

Here is an Amazon link to her most recent and most comprehensive book on natural foods, which includes extensive discussions on various sweeteners (there may be a less expensive download version on Google Books; also you can preview parts of that book for free on Google Scholar):

www.amazon.com...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1314194070&sr=1-1

The other book I recommend that has a comprehensive and even more detailed discussion on the pro's and con's of sweetener choices (except agave, which came on the market after this book was published) is "Sweet And Natural," a 2001 book by Meredith McCarty:

www.amazon.com...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1314195119&sr=1-1

It took me years to find documented information on the health problems associated with the use of refined sweeteners; that information is very convincing, but very hard to find. My personal experience with a natural foods diet was that it took my taste buds about 3 months to get used to the more subtle sweetness of natural foods; whole foods are actually enjoyable. In cooking and baking over the last 4 years I get good results with organic brown rice syrup and some organic maple syrup. An apple pie I made with just those sweeteners was a great success. (When you use maple syrup, be especially careful to only use the organic form, since commercial maple syrup is commonly contaminated with formaldehyde and lead.) Both these syrups store well, so I finished stocking up on them this week (2 year supply, in glass jars).

Since we are fast approaching the fall season, also keep in mind the truly incredible sweetness of certain vegetable squashes, especially butternut squash, but also kabocha (in Europe, kabocha may be more commonly labeled as Hokkaido pumpkin, an ironic name since it was first cultivated in Massachusetts). Baking the squash increases its sweetness. If these squash varieties are not yet available in your neighborhood, go to a natural foods store and buy a carton of pre-made organic butternut squash soup. It's ready to heat and serve (shake the container before opening). I recently served that at a family dinner and the 20-somethings in the group were especially impressed with both its sweetness and overall terrific flavor.

I usually fix a dessert of some type once or twice a week, the rest of the time we enjoy in-season fruits (we currently have on hand grapes, apples, dates and just bought a watermelon for this week's heat wave here in Los Angeles). For more advice on the subtle issues of acid and alkaline dietary balance with fruits and sweeteners, I rely on the 2009 book Acid Alkaline Companion, by Carl Ferre, sold on his OhsawaMacrobiotics website and on the Simply-Natural website, the affiliated shopping website for Cybermacro, where I post my news links on Airborne Radiation. The following link contains the first chapter as a free sample:

www.simply-natural.biz...

Here is a list of other radio-protective foods, as recommended by the 1993 edition of Diet for the Atomic Age, written by Sara Shannon; copyright 1993 by Instant Improvement, Inc. NY, NY.

Herbs and spices:

Kyolic, a supplement form of garlic; ginger; fresh horseradish; red clover.

Vegetables:

Green onions (scallions); leafy greens; yellow vegetables (carrots, parsnips, squashes, sweet vegetable corn); vegetables in the cabbage family (broccoli, collards, bok choy, kohlrabi, radishes, red cabbage, rutabagas, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower). Also valuable are mustard greens, onions, parsley, green beans and watercress (lightly cooked watercress is safest cooking method to avoid common water-borne parasites).

Whole grains:

Brown rice; millet; barley; dried whole corn; buckwheat; wheat; spelt; kamut; oats; rye.

Beans:

[For frequent use] Lentils; aduki (adzuki) beans; chick peas (garbanzos); [for occasional use] split peas, pinto beans, and other varieties.

Previously mentioned highly radio-protective foods include seaweed and miso.

Seeds and nuts:

Almonds are generally very health-supporting; sunflower seeds contain high amounts of pectin, which is a type of fiber that binds with toxins to hasten their elimination; sesame seeds are very high in calcium, and pumpkin seeds are high in zinc, a protective mineral for several essential human organs.

Tempeh is a traditionally fermented form of soybeans that is high in protein, low in fat (as compared with animal products) and high in protective fiber.

Vegan diets lack vitamin B-12 and vitamin D. Both of these vital nutrients are present in fish. Ocean fish are recommended, especially wild-caught fish. Avoid the species such as tuna which are both very large fishes and at the top of their food chains. Salmon, small varieties of mackerel and white-flesh smaller-species ocean fishes are recommended. Avoid freshwater seafood.

Fruits:

Eat fruits in season where you live. High-fiber fruits, such as raspberries, apples, blueberries and peaches are especially helpful.

Note: When preparing food in the kitchen, very thoroughly rinse all items and discard the rinse water.

The first book on radio-protective foods that is both authoritative and current was published on May 16, 2012. The author has a degree in nutrition from the State University of New York in the USA. Title is Radiation Protective Foods: a Menu for the Nuclear Age. Publisher is AuthorHouse, Bloomington IN (www.authorhouse.com). Here is a link for its Amazon page. Scroll down to the bottom of that page to see my "customer review" of that book:

www.amazon.com...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338384833&sr=1-1