Those of you who have read my Amazon reviews will remember that I call "Dirty Electricity" by Samuel Milham, MD, MPH, the most important book of the 21st century: Dirty Electricity: Electrification and the Diseases of Civilization. Radiation Protective Foods: a Menu for the Nuclear Age, by Sara Shannon, who has a degree in nutrition from the State University of New York, is therefore 2nd in importance overall, but presents a scarcely less urgent problem and solution. Whether you are for or against nuclear power, this book shows you how to adjust your daily menus to protect you and your loved ones against ionizing radiation that is routinely released into the environment by all forms of nuclear fission. This book also includes a recipe section.
Radiation Protective Foods fully explains why dietary protection against all amounts of ionizing radiation is necessary. It describes all the foods in the human diet that can strengthen our immune systems and maintain our health. Important supplements are discussed as well. A section on food ingredients to avoid (I'm looking at you, sugar) is included; reasons for the "avoids" are given. You may be surprised that a number of supplements recommended online (especially in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster) are not included in Radiation Protective Foods; that is because there are no actual data supporting the effectiveness of some of these so-called radiation remedies. There is a lot of fool's gold online.
I have a Master's Degree in Public Health, and I support Sara Shannon's recommendation that vitamin B-12 supplementation be used. I do not, however, support her statement that B12 food sources include tempeh, miso, and sea vegetables. North American and global vegetarian and vegan societies, in recent years, have come to recognize that the forms of B12 in vegetarian foods are analogues of B12 that are not only NOT the absorbable form of B12, they make it more difficult for the true form of B12 to be absorbed. If you take B12, buy one that has methylcobalamin as its active ingredient; methylcobalamin is the most easily absorbed form of B12, and quite a few people, for one reason or another, have difficulty absorbing B12, especially as we get older. So do yourself a favor and buy the methylcobalamin form of B12.
Portions of this book were first published under the title Diet for the Atomic Age (out of print for years), but Radiation Protective Foods has a May 2012 publication date, and a great deal of the book contains new information. Internet sources of related information, for example, are included for the first time in this AuthorHouse edition. You owe it to yourself to buy this book.
- Indy "writer on macrobiotic topics"
- Ernest J. Sternglass Ph.D.
In 1986, Sara Shannon published Diet for the Atomic Age, which outlined the hazards of low level radiation on human health. Since that time there have been many more nuclear power plants and nuclear waste sites constructed across the globe. With the radiation releases caused by the post-tsunami accidents at Fukushima in Japan in 2011 and the continued concerns many have over the safety of nuclear energy, it is very timely that this book is now updated, published under the title Radiation Protective Foods: A Menu for the Nuclear Age.
This revised edition of Shannon's public-health classic lays out the possible impacts of these increased radiation levels, from weakened immune systems to lower fertility rates. The author consistently underscores the idea that there is no safe level of radiation. Undoubtedly, long-term radiation exposure leads to adverse health effects. She also notes that human sensitivity to radiation varies among individuals, so that one's best defense against these cumulative impacts is to shield the body from harm through a specific healthy-eating regimen.
Shannon has a direct writing style, and she patiently explains many complicated and technical subjects to help the reader understand how low-level radiation affects cellular processes. There are sometimes interjections of strong opinion, as when she writes of "deathdealing" nuclear plants, but on the whole, Shannon's assertions are clear, authoritative, and backed up with many examples of scientific research.
"Shannon's book is a valuable reference for readers who want more information about how to avoid foods that weaken the body's defenses and how to maintain a diet that helps flush out harmful substances. This volume will be great bookshelf addition for anyone concerned about how to protect themselves and their loved ones from the harmful impacts of low-level radiation. "
Of course, we cannot delude ourselves at this point when faced with such a grossly contaminated environment, contaminated by radiation, that there is one food or one vitamin that can protect us. Most single solutions seem irrelevant in the radiation saturated context in which we exist. But if there is something that makes sense, it is the encouragement found in Radiation Protective Foods to build your health by eating foods which provide elements precluding the absorption of their radioactive counterparts. This infinitely valuable point, explained in everyday language, makes this book priceless.
Thank God an understandable and readable book on what's really happening to our Planet. The radioactive tuna swimming over from Fukushima, the radioactive particles pouring out of the Earth's 400 nuclear power plants and riding on the global air currents, the toxic residue of bomb tests which officially ended in 1963 but whose half-lives haven't even yet begun; how do we protect ourselves and our children from this invisible deluge? Luckily Sara Shannon has spent decades researching the problem and with 30 pages of documented research tells us something as simple as the fact that rice and veggies can be protective. This isn't just a scientific premise but something that really works, especially at this time in our history when one out of three women and every other man is coming down with cancer. Just think - in 1991 it was one out of nine - and only 21 years later cancer has increased by more than 300 percent. Help yourself, your children and your grandchildren and read this book!
One of the key principles of this book is the information regarding "selective uptake", which means that if you eat enough foods that contain the main nutrients the body needs, you will not absorb their radioactive counterparts. This information is well written, clearly understandable and the key points are critical toward protecting yourself and your family from the increasing levels of radiation that we are exposed to from the daily operations of nuclear power plants, and the devastating accident in Japan last year, which along with Chernobyl, has compounded the amount of radiation in global air currents. This book will show you how really easy it is to protect yourself. I highly recommend this book.