Estimation of cancer risk due to radiation exposure for some daily consumption of foods

• Published in: Journal of cancer research and therapeutics Vol. 16; no. 8; pp. 64 - 67
• Main Authors: Abbasi, Akbar, Bashiry, Vali
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: India Wolters Kluwer India Pvt. Ltd 01.12.2020; Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd; Medknow Publications & Media Pvt. Ltd
• Subjects: Agaricales - chemistry; Animals; Cancer; Diet Surveys - statistics & numerical data; Environmental aspects; Food; Food Analysis - statistics & numerical data; Food Contamination, Radioactive - analysis; Food Contamination, Radioactive - statistics & numerical data; Health aspects; Humans; Iran - epidemiology; Meat - analysis; Milk - chemistry; Neoplasms - epidemiology; Neoplasms - etiology; Oryza - chemistry; Potassium Radioisotopes - analysis; Radiation Dosage; Radiation Exposure - adverse effects; Radium - analysis; Risk Assessment - methods; Risk Assessment - statistics & numerical data; Risk factors; Thorium - analysis; Triticum - chemistry; Iran; effective dose; cancer risk; food; Activity concentration
• DOI: 10.4103/jcrt.JCRT_259_18
• ISSN: 0973-1482; 1998-4138

Aims: Considering the increasing concern about the cancer risk caused by environmental radiological effects related to the food consumption, the study was carried out evaluate the activity concentrations and cancer risk assessments of 226 Ra,232 Th, and 40 K in 72 food samples collected from different suppliers in Tehran Province of Iran. Subjects and Methods: The specific activity concentration was determined by means of a high-resolution high-purity germanium gamma-spectroscopy system. The collected various sample groups were wheat, rice, meat, milk, and mushroom. Results: The maximum concentration of 226 Ra and 232 Th was found in the wheat sample, equal to 0.7862 Bq/kg and 0.968 Bq/kg, respectively, whereas for 40 K, it was 598.35 Bq/kg in the milk sample. The annual effective dose rate ranged from 2.47 μSv/y in mushroom to 64.66 μSv/y in rice. The average excess lifetime cancer risk (ELCR) was varied from 1.60 × 10-5 for mushroom to 4.20 × 10-4 for milk, with the total ELCR value from main daily diets 1.37 × 10-3, which was a little more than the acceptable ELCR limit of 10-3. Conclusions: The ELCR due to five main daily diets was a little more than the acceptable ELCR limit of 10-3 for radiological risk in general.