Chapter 8 from Are You Radioactive by Linda Clark, M.A.
1974, Devin-Adair -- out of print
Link to Chapter 9, Remedies for Radioactivity
Since the book was written, Mad Cow Disease has arisen. It is spread by feeding "meat and bone meal" to cattle and sheep. This meal is made from dead cows, some of whom could have the disease.
Therefor, disregard the part about using bone marrow or bone meal. In fact, it's not even ok to use bone meal on garden plants anymore. Farmers who use it on crops could be infecting even vegetarians.
Few people are aware of the dangers of radioactivity. They may not feel well or may have developed an alarming health problem, never realizing the cause. It is encouraging to know that there is already information from scientific tests to prove that there are certain foods which can help protect you from radioactivity. These help prevent contamination. In the next chapter we will discuss remedies to remove it.
Doctors, certainly, are as much in the dark about radioactivity as everyone else. Such information was not taught them in medical schools. Consequently they do not recognize the symptoms or know how to treat them, often confusing them with other diseases and prescribing drugs which not only have no effect, but may even endanger the patient. For example, one radiation-conscious clinic, which prefers to be unnamed, tells me that a high blood sugar reading often goes hand-in-hand with a high radiation finding. The average doctor assumes the problem is diabetes and prescribes insulin which has proved more disturbing than helpful. Yet, the clinic told me, when radiation is reversed, the blood sugar drops automatically.
I know only a handful of doctors who are aware of the prevalence of radioactivity. One of them told me, "People are getting sicker and sicker and harder and harder to treat. Furthermore their emotional problems are as disturbing as their physical problems." Since radioactivity affects the nervous system, along with other parts of the body, this is undoubtedly true, and I have seen it listed again and again among various radiation symptoms. This doctor, fortunately, has realized that there is a common denominator among many of his patients and has finally suspected that radiation may be the cause.
Another alert doctor said, "I agree that people are not only ill but are much more difficult to treat satisfactorily. It is frightening to see young people growing six, seven and eight feet tall and to note they are approaching a neuter type." Many girls are growing beards, and to witness the younger generation, it is often difficult to know which is male and which is female. Glands and hormones and genes are being distorted and young bodies reflect it.
A letter from another physician to whom I wrote states: "It looks as if some mysterious telepathy had directed you my way. I have been interested in the biosphere contamination by nuclear tests ever since the first atomic bomb was exploded in Nevada. The long range effects of these tests deserve much greater attention by the medical profession than they are receiving.
"I have observed the morbidity of people to grow with every year, ever since the beginning of these tests. Every year people are sicker, and more are affected than the previous year. The last winter (1971) has been much worse than ever before.
"Usually, after an acute or self-limiting sickness, people eventually get better. Now, after chronic suffering in some area of their bodies, the area becomes worse. In addition, they become more irritable, dizzy, hoarse and develop itching, lung, stomach, bladder troubles more frequently. Their temperature rises by one-half to one degree, their vision, hearing, memory and sleep suffer. All these troubles are very difficult to treat."
This physician, experienced in recognizing radioactive symptoms, put his finger on a very important point. He said, "Only robust and quite healthy people do not develop these changes, although such people are becoming fewer and fewer."
I have explained in a previous book why some people may be more resistant to radioactivity: "Apparently, if a person is well fortified with the proper nutritional substances, he will be less likely to absorb detrimental elements."
Both of the physicians I have mentioned agree with the premise that proper nutrition can help the body resist invasion of radioactivity, as well as other contaminants. As one of the doctors stated: "We are facing a world calamity as a result of increasing contamination of our environment and increasingly poor nutrition."
This physician contributes some nutritional information which he has learned is effective in protection against radioactivity. He says, "There is recent evidence that the following substances are helpful in guarding against radiation toxicity:
He adds, "I also believe that lecithin is important in helping the liver and blood vessels."
There is agreement on lecithin among other physicians. R.D. and J.F. Barhard, both M.D.s, reported that the effects of radiation in rats were counteracted by daily doses of lecithin. Lecithin can be found in health stores in liquid, powder, granule, capsule and wafer form.
What other nutritional substances are helpful?
One well known and respected nutritionist reports that gamma radiation of the whole body (from radioactive isotopes) causes a fall of magnesium levels in the blood. This provides us with a clue: magnesium supplements (available at health stores) should therefore help to compensate for the deficiency.
The effect of vitamin C, both ascorbic acid (only one factor of the C family) as well as bioflavonoids (the entire C family) has been proved. Fred R. Klenner, M.D., a specialist in vitamin C therapy, states: "Guinea pigs saturated with vitamin C lived in spite of being exposed to double the known lethal radiation dose."
Bone marrow injections helped the survival of four Yugoslavian scientists who had been exposed to a dangerously high radiation dose. The National Cancer Institute also found bone marrow a source of protection against radiation. Oral bone marrow tablets can be purchased at health stores. Bone meal-plus-bone marrow should be especially helpful since it contains two radiation-resisting elements, calcium and bone marrow.
Laboratory tests show that oils are also helpful. Dr. Gladys W. Royal, of North Carolina's A & T College, learned that mice exposed to large doses of radioactivity (which usually prove fatal to them within about 5 days) lived from three to six days longer if they were fed cod liver oil as compared with mice which had not been fed cod liver oil.
Dr. James Ashikawa, University of California, found that if vegetable oils were injected into mice before they were exposed to radiation, they were protected. He also found that mice could survive lethal doses of X-rays if they were given common edible vegetable oils. He especially suggested the use of olive and peanut oils for radiation sickness.
Professor Humberto Aviles, of Mexico, recommended vitamin F (another name for unsaturated fatty acids found in vegetable oils) when swallowed or rubbed into the skin. He said it offered greater protection for those who are employed in atomic laboratories, plants, or work near other sources of radiation.
Pectin is apparently another eradicator of radioactivity. Williard E. Baier, a chemical engineer of California's Sunkist Growers, has done research with fruit pectin (it is found in apples and lemons). He believes very little pectin is needed. Commercial pectin, which is used to make jellies and jam "jell," might be used as a radioactivity remedy, provided the commercial variety does not include additives. Also, don't forget that "apple a day" advice, either. The Russians are convinced that pectin in seeds can force strontium through the body, without its being absorbed. Dr. A. A. Rubanavskaya, a woman researcher of the Soviet Union, used sunflower seeds as a source of pectin to attract, bind and eliminate radiation from the system.
There is a health product available which helps eliminate toxins and is used in short detoxification programs. It is a vegetable gel bulk substance containing a high amount of pectin. It absorbs, adsorbs (attracts and binds) and removes many toxins from the intestinal tract. It, too, should be helpful in eliminating radioactivity.
N-F Factors, P.O. Box 125, Lafayette, California 94549
Other seeds besides sunflower seeds have been found helpful. In Germany, buckwheat seeds and millet are considered radiation-preventive. Actually, the whole buckwheat plant--leaves, blossoms and seeds--has been found useful. One reason: buckwheat is a well known protector of the body's capillaries. A physician in the United States suggests another use of seeds: he believes that sprouted seeds (wheat, mung or soy beans, alfalfa, etc.) contain protective nutrients. These, of course, can be sprouted at home. Be sure to get them untreated, ready for sprouting, at health stores.
Turning to other foods, leafy greens apparently resist fallout better than some other plants. Even if fallout lodges on them, careful washing removes 60% of the fallout.
Smooth vegetables and fruits are less hazardous than rough textured fruit or some layered vegetables, such as loose head lettuce. Even the rough surface of strawberries can collect fallout. Soaking them briefly in water to which a little apple cider vinegar has been added will probably help to dislodge the surface fallout.
Layered vegetables should be separated and washed carefully. Rough skinned fruits and vegetables should be peeled. Nuts, of course, because of their shells, protect the interior meats from fallout. Protein, of any kind, seems to provide more body resistance to radiation.
Calcium seems to be a must. For example, people on a calcium-poor diet can absorb up to five times as much harmful Strontium-90 as those on a calcium-rich diet. The calcium resists strontium. Dr. Linus Pauling states that six tablets of calcium daily would cut the strontium intake by 50%, provided the calcium is made from deep-mined limestone which is uncontaminated by radioactivity.
Another mineral which plays an important role in protecting the thyroid from Iodine-131, particularly for children (who are super-sensitive to it) is regular iodine. Dr. Russell Morgan. chief radiologist, Johns Hopkins University, says, "The addition of stable iodine has shown by studies that 1 mg. for children and 5 mg. for adults daily will induce gradually over a few days a reduction of about 80% of radioactive iodine collected in the thyroid gland, and more reduction can be achieved by larger doses."
This emergency iodine prescription should be supervised by a physician, since it is possible to get too much iodine on a continuous basis. A safer source of iodine for the average person for prevention purposes is found in kelp (seaweed) tablets, which contain all the minerals found in seawater. There is more and more conjecture that minerals may be the real key to protection against radioactivity.
Kelp has been tested by McGill University, in Canada, and found to act as a binding agent, removing radioactivity (as described in pectin) from the intestines. For example, kelp reduced the absorption of Strontium-90 by animals from 50% to 80% as compared with untreated animals which received no kelp at all. The animals given kelp also showed a 70% drop in bone absorption and a 60% drop in blood levels. Thus kelp can be considered a true radiation antagonist. Kelp tablets, which are rich in both major minerals and minor minerals (the trace minerals) are found in health stores.
In addition to calcium, B-complex vitamins are another must for radiation protection. Like calcium, B vitamins aid the nervous system which is usually upset by radiation. Though vitamin B1 and B6 are considered especially important, the entire B complex is best of all. There are two foods especially rich in these vitamins: liver and Brewers yeast. Liver protects against X-ray and other types of radiation.
Brewers yeast is one of the most dramatic anti-radiation foods of all. It is a rich all-in-one source of many nutrients: protein, minerals and the B-complex. Mice fed Brewers yeast before radiation were protected, as compared with mice not fed Brewers yeast and which were not protected. Even those fed Brewers yeast after radiation had an 85% drop in hemoglobin, followed by a 95% recovery. Giving Brewers yeast to people prevented--in many cases--a fall in hemoglobin.
In mentioning supplements of vitamins and minerals, except for those suggested by scientists, I have purposely not supplied dosages. Each person is unique and no two people need the same amounts. Books on nutrition, including mine, will help you learn how much you need and how to experiment until you find the amount best for you.
Just remember that by keeping your cells saturated with wholesome, protective factors from organic foods and supplements, there is less room for disturbing contaminants to take hold.
Another tip: try to eat at least one raw meal daily. This is because raw foods contain vitamins and minerals in undiluted form which cooking may destroy in part. Also, raw foods contain enzymes, killed by heat, which act as housecleaners for your body.
We used to take health for granted, and it did not seem to make much difference what we ate or drank. No more. Surrounded as we are by so many serious pollutants, radioactivity at the head of the list, maintaining health is now a full time job.