Radiation sickness is not a complaint the average practitioner is expecting to hear from a patient walking into their clinic. But nevertheless there is growing evidence that some cellular disturbances and physical conditions may be precipitated by exposure to radioactivity in some form.
Natural background radiation causes only low levels of damage which can normally be repaired by the body. However, when the body is exposed to unnaturally high levels of radiation it struggles to combat the damage caused. Radiation is absorbed into the human body via air, skin, food and a few other elements. Radioactive fallout in the form of particulate matter can be swallowed or breathed in. Radiation penetrates the body and is wholly or partially absorbed by soft and hard tissue.. Alpha, beta and gamma ionising radiation is emitted from various materials used in nuclear power stations. There are many other sources of radioactivity in the modern environment.
Radioactive waves or particles are ionised i.e. electrically charged. They cause some molecular structures within the body to become electrically charged which can be potentially dangerous. Of the cells that are most sensitive to radiation are those that line the intestine (crypt cells), white blood cells that fight infection and the cells that make red and white blood cells. These cells’ reaction leads to the classic early symptoms of radiation sickness which include nausea, vomiting and dehydratation.
Handling The Effects of Radiation
In 1968 a group of Canadian researchers at McGill University of Montreal, headed by Dr. Stanley Skoryna, studied the question as to whether seaweed could help rid the body of radioactive toxins (Skoryna S.C. et al, “Intestinal Absorption of Radioactive Strontium,” Canadian Medical Association Journal 191: 285-88, 1964).
Dr. Skoryna and his team were trying to devise a method to counteract the effects of nuclear fallout and reported that sodium alginate from brown algae “permitted calcium to be normally absorbed through the intestinal wall while binding most of the strontium. The sodium alginate and strontium was subsequently excreted from the body. The experiments were designed to devise a method to counteract the effects of nuclear fallout and radiation.”
The key finding of this study was identifying that sea vegetables contained a polysaccharide substance — called sodium alginate which is present in large quantities in brown algae such as Laminarae (kelp), Fucus (bladderwrack) and Ascophyllum (fertilizer seaweed) — that selectively bound radioactive strontium and eliminated it from the body. This substance was found most abundant in the Kombu strain of Kelp. Subsequently an extract of this strain ( Laminarea Japonae ) was marketed called Modifilan.
Spirulina, too, has proved effective in combating the effects of radiation. It was utilised, with great success, by researchers in Minsk treating children effected by the Chernobyl disaster. In some trials the improvement was as high as 80%.
Also utilised by researchers handling children affected by the disaster was a detoxification regime, developed by the American researcher and humanitarian L Ron Hubbard. This revolves around Vitamin B3, Niacin, found to flush out residual radiation, and spending time in a sauna sweating out the now freed particles etc
Zeolite, originating from fulvic and humic compounds, may also lock on to some radioactive particles and subsequently excrete them from the body. Pyrophyllite, a form of clay, has tetrahedral molecules. It is capable of holding toxins to the outside of its structure and can also absorb others. It too has enjoyed some success in detoxifying radiation particles.
Summary
Although extreme cases of exposure will usually leave long term damage, there are several natural options for the practitioner when encountering radiation conditions in a patient. All of have proven efficacy, with most of them being underpinned by medical trials. As in so many other cases, nature has provided solutions.