Comments on: Radiation is good for you!

By: Ross

Ross — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 21:33:44 +0000

Don’t know much about hormesis, other than the concept itself. Did a bunch of reading on radiation hormesis and convinced myself that the mainstream “take” on radiation is probably at the level of the Salem witch trials and that any study which blithely relies on the linear no-threshold model is quite possibly crap.

They talk about a “J-shaped curve” for hormesis in general, a graphical representation of dose/effect which captures the bad effect of “zero” and “too much” dose, and the good effects in the middling range. The whole question, of course, is the specific shape and location of the particular “J” for any given assault type.

Fascinating stuff. Needless to say, “now” is a temptingly relevant time, but can also be a difficult time to try to present this topic.

By: Edgewise Sigma

Edgewise Sigma — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 02:51:47 +0000

That disaster in Japan has got everyone talking about radiation again, and that in turn has reminded me about the concept of hormesis — which is touched upon in that Taiwan story link.

I haven’t kept up with hormesis research in a while. By any chance, do you know if hormesis research (whether or not WRT to radiation) has been applied to stem cell research? (Just wonderin’…)

By: Ross

Ross — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 01:33:10 +0000

Banana equivalents! What a great idea! Other high potassium (and likely high potassium-40 foods, therefore) are pinto beans, avocado, papaya, melon, prune/tomato juice, and yogurt.

T.D.Lucky, cited in this post, has extremely well-researched and compelling books and articles on radiation hormesis.

On a humorous note, is there a banana-republic equivalent currency converter for hyper inflating fiat currency regimes?