Understand why bananas are radioactive, but they are not harmful to health

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See ranking of most radioactive foods, Brazil nuts are in first place. To develop cancer, a person would need to eat a million bananas at once. Banana Aleksandar Pasaric / Pexels Every time we eat a banana we are ingesting radioactivity and this is not unique to bananas. Other foods, such as Brazil nuts, beer and even water, also have this component in their structure. But don’t be afraid, the amount of radiation is not enough to harm your health. For example, to develop cancer, a person would need to eat a million bananas at once. Almost all the foods we consume have a degree of radioactivity, explains researcher at the Center for the Development of Nuclear Technology (CDTN), Bruno Melo Mendes. That’s because there are radioactive materials that have been in the soil since the earth was created, being passed into the food grown and even into the water. There is still radiation in the atmosphere, which enters our body every time we breathe – yes, we have our natural radiation too. Check out the 10 most radioactive foods Luisa Rivas / g1 Banana radiation Normally, foods contain radiation derived from potassium. In the case of bananas, which are very rich in this element, it is the Potassium 40 component, says Mendes. But this is a very small amount. A banana has 0.1 microsievert (μSv), a measure used to indicate the impact of ionizing radiation on humans, also called equivalent dose, which takes into account the biological effects of absorbed radiation. The banana is also considered a unit of measurement of radiation, it is the banana equivalent dose (DEB), another way of calling the μSv. For example, when sleeping next to someone, we are exposed to 0.05 μSv, a dose equivalent to half a banana. To cause immediate death, the amount of radiation must be 5 million μSV, points out the researcher. As for causing cancer, a study with survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki points out that a dose of 100 millisievert (mSv) would be necessary, a million times greater than what we ingest when eating a banana. Still, a truck full of the fruit could trigger a more sensitive radioactivity detector. This is because the energy can pass through objects and reach the detector. Mendes explains that our body is used to small doses of radioactivity and that this is important for the evolution of living beings. “So, radioactivity contributes to this planet’s diversity,” he says. Read also: Avoid waste: see how to use the rest of the fruits What are agroforestry and how they make food production more sustainable Tilapia ice cream can help cancer patients; find out if the recipe tastes like fish See how bananas are produced in Brazil: Where does what I eat come from: banana WATCH: women transform banana fiber into handicrafts in the Ribeira Valley People from the countryside: women transform banana fiber into handicrafts in Ribeira Valley

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