Brazil Nuts: For That Healthy Glow
March 13th, 2007 by Roderick Russell
Not only is the tasty and delicious Brazil Nut one of the most nutritious nuts around, it also happens to be the world’s most radioactive food – at least until Uranium Crisps hit the shelves.
A result of the extensive root system of this largest of Amazon Rainforest trees, the Bertholletia excelsa collects and concentrates an unusually high amount of radium from the soil – much of this being stored, as many toxins are, in the fatty meat of the nut. It has been estimated that the Brazil nuts contains up to 1,000 times more radium than the next highest radioactive food.
So high is the level of radiation found in the nut, it has been shown to register “33 percent hotter than the natural radiation level of [a] room.” (Steven Levingston, Very Hot Commodities, 2003) on a standard Geiger counter. Special mention should be made that the opinion of the Historical Instrument Collection (Oak Ridge, TN) differs insofar as they claim that though “radioactivity is not high enough to be detectable with a simple survey instrument, a one to five minute count on the powdered meat of the nut with a pancake GM or ZnS detector connected to a scaler will indicate that the beta and alpha activities are significantly above background.” I will be testing it myself early next week when my new CD V-715 Geiger Counter arrives.
Though the radioactivity of the nut is the highest found in any food, and though there have been virtually no studies of the impact of Brazil nut radiation on the human body, most authorities agree that there is little to no risk of ill-effect from eating the nuts, even in quantity. Despite the prestige of occupying the top radioactive spot, the amount stored and radiated is nevertheless miniscule and simply does not compare to the level of radiation found elsewhere in our daily lives.
In fact, many would be surprised to discover just how radioactive our world is. It’s common knowledge that many early 20th century consumer products made use of radioactive materials. Most notable among them are the luminous paints – Undark and others – that were once used to paint the hands and faces of watches and clocks during the late teens and early 20’s.
Created by the US Radium Corporation – which had a lucrative defense contract at the time – the radioluminescent paints used in their New Jersey factory were responsible for the deaths of many of the female employees. Unaware of the dangers, the female employees contracted to paint watches were encouraged by the corporation to keep the tip of their brushes well pointed by wetting and shaping with their tongue and lips. Many of these girls would also paint their teeth or nails with the radium paint for the novelty of having glowing parts. The corporation was sued by a group of five female employees who, along with the other employees exposed, became known as the Radium Girls. More recently, the US Radium site in Orange, New Jersey has been classified as a Superfund site.
But what many don’t know is that even modern consumer products are often laced with radioactive material. These include smoke detectors, spark plugs, certain 3M tape dispensers, cat litter, low-sodium salt and my favorite – glossy magazines. Certain clays used in glossy magazines – to create a smooth surface on the paper – are radioactive and a truckload of glossy periodicals can trip a radiation detector.
Need we worry? Probably not, and this article isn’t intended to frighten – though it may have unintentionally done so. But it does go to show that, though we may feel safe and completely removed from danger, the very act of living in a modern society brings with it untold dangers, often of the invisible variety. These consumer products may be nothing to worry about, but if you didn’t know about them before let it be a reminder that it’s always better to be informed. A well-rounded education and critical mind will forever remain our most powerful tools and defense.
There is one thing that has become clear from all of this though: the world is more interesting with a Geiger counter.
Many thanks go to Oak Ridge Associated Universities for maintaining such an interesting repository of information.
tags: bertholletia excelsa, historical instrument collection, oak ridge associated universities, brazil nuts, cd v-715, civil defense, geiger counter, radioactive, radium, radium girls, superfund, u.s. radium corporation
April 16th, 2007 at Apr 16, 07 | 10:12 pm
[…] Read the full story herehttp://noumenon.roderickrussell.com/brazil-nuts-for-that-healthy-glow […]
April 17th, 2007 at Apr 17, 07 | 5:46 am
One thing you left out: all those manmade sources of radiation in our daily lives (anyone worn a radium watch in the last 40 years?) are completely insignificant compared to the natural sources of radiation all around us. It helps put the brazil nuts in perspective (although one detail from the story is great–this is the most radioactive food on earth and yet you get 3/4 as much radiation from the natural radiation in a normal living room.)
April 17th, 2007 at Apr 17, 07 | 5:54 am
Your CDV-715 probably won’t even register; it’s a high-rate gamma meter.
April 17th, 2007 at Apr 17, 07 | 8:50 am
Keeping our (glowing) heads
One thing I loathe is extremism, in pretty much all of its forms. I don’t care whether you’re conservative or liberal, anti-war or pro-whatever, odds are if you’re at the far extreme of a position, you’re ignoring some sort of basic truth about a m…
April 17th, 2007 at Apr 17, 07 | 8:58 am
Everyday Dangers
Take a look at the article, Brazil Nuts: For That Healthy Glow, and make sure to read through the entire thing, particularly the material near the end regarding the hidden and poorly-understood dangers that may lie in everyday things. Then pick an ever…
April 17th, 2007 at Apr 17, 07 | 10:54 am
This article was very interesting, however as a health physicist (someone who studies the effects of radiation on people), I feel that I should respond to your closing statement that, “…the very act of living in a modern society brings with it untold dangers, often of the invisible variety”.
To describe the radioactivity of things like smoke detector sources (which you would have to eat to be affected by its radioactivity) and magazines as dangerous is a gross exaggeration. The dose of radiation received from the sources you mentioned is insignificant compared to the dose that we receive from natural sources (
April 17th, 2007 at Apr 17, 07 | 12:10 pm
To Peter and Fallout Boy
Thanks for stopping by to read the article and leave your comments! I’m glad to see a professional health physicist weighing in here, and would like to remind readers to read your comments and take them to heart rather than taking the paranoid approach by throwing away the smoke detectors. ;)
Just to clarify, I too pointed out that there is no danger in Brazil Nuts:
“Though the radioactivity of the nut is the highest found in any food…there is little to no risk of ill-effect from eating the nuts, even in quantity.”
And the closing statement that you (Fallout Boy) quote was intended as a much more general statement than merely a warning to not eat nuts, read magazines or use salt. ;)
As you both mentioned the natural level of radiation in our environment, I point you back to this quote from the article:
“Despite the prestige of occupying the top radioactive spot, the amount stored and radiated is nevertheless miniscule and simply does not compare to the level of radiation found elsewhere in our daily lives.”
Lest anyone else get the wrong impression from the article though, let me officially say it now - the nuts are safe. ;) Eat ‘em up!
Thanks for adding your thoughts! Keep them coming!
April 17th, 2007 at Apr 17, 07 | 12:11 pm
To Unobtanium
Damn it! You’re right! But it still looks damn cool. ;)
April 17th, 2007 at Apr 17, 07 | 12:22 pm
To Thoughts from the Void
Excellent post that you have on your site! Thanks for the mention, and I urge all other readers to check it out too! (the link is in the comment up above)
Another thing to keep in mind is that not only does the media often blow things out of proportion and deliver news that is out of context, but that we as readers have a responsibility to ourselves to make sure that we are not interpreting material out-of-context, or rather, with a sort of “selective reading”.
It’s unfortunately the case that even an article that - as you say - “remains moderate while providing a significant amount of tantalizing and fascinating information” can still be spun, mashed and remixed in a reader’s mind if he or she really wants to make a point (even if the article doesn’t support it).
So yes, the media has a responsibility that it’s not exactly living up to, but we each have an individual responsibility as well. Let’s make sure that we uphold our end!
Oh heck, go read it here: http://www.burningvoid.com/weblog/thoughts/2007/04/keeping_our_glowing_heads.html
April 17th, 2007 at Apr 17, 07 | 1:35 pm
Well, that CDV-715 won’t do you any good as it doesn’t seem that you researched what type of meter it is. I collect CDV counters. The 715 is a “field survey meter,” NOT a geiger counter. This means it only works in high radiation fields. Unless opening that brazil nut sets off an atomic bomb close to your house, that meter will read 0 if it functions properly.
A CDV-700 is a “geiger counter” but you’re talking about some mighty low levels of radiation there…
April 17th, 2007 at Apr 17, 07 | 8:34 pm
Roderick: It’s unfortunately the case that even an article that - as you say - “remains moderate while providing a significant amount of tantalizing and fascinating information” can still be spun, mashed and remixed in a reader’s mind if he or she really wants to make a point (even if the article doesn’t support it).
It’s true–I often forget how people strain what they read through the filter of their own pre-conceived notions. It’s as though they see a key word or two that trigger a pre-programmed expectation, and after that all they see is what they expect to see, not what’s actually there.
June 25th, 2007 at Jun 25, 07 | 12:05 pm
[…] tasty and delicious Brazil nut one of the most nutritious nuts around, it also happens to be the world’s most radioactive food (Noumenon […]