In a previous blog I touched on the ever-present nature of radiation and its deleterious effects on human health. Fortunately the body and nature can provide select compounds to help decrease some of the damaging consequences brought about by certain types of radiation.

Multiple studies have shown zinc supplementation to be effective in decreasing the damage to delicate and vulnerable organ tissue incurred by excessive exposure to intense long term electromagnetic radiation in various laboratory evaluations.

Solar sourced UV radiation while absolutely vital to human life as it helps generate endogenously produced vitamin D can be potentially hazardous in excessive amounts especially to our skin. Astaxanthin the bright red carotenoid found in the shrimp-like sea creature krill and in specific species of algae has been shown to down-regulate various inflammatory and oxidative pathways that were up-regulated by disproportionate UV radiation.  Additionally krill oil contains both astaxanthin and docosahexaenoic acid or DHA which in another study was shown to also mitigate the effects of UV radiation.  Thus it makes sense to supplement with krill oil to obtain a double dose of skin protection.

Green tea polyphenols and extracts can protect skin cells by blocking UVB-induced free radicals and UVB-induced damage to the cellular mitochondria and other organelles.

Of the green tea polyphenols epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCg) provides the highest level of photo-protection. EGCg prevents UVB-induced skin damage by a variety of mechanisms including inducing DNA repair.

In fact green tea and its constituents may be one of the most potent of all skin-protective botanicals due to the multifaceted protective effects.

Bee propolis the resinous compound used by bees as a building material has a variety of valuable health properties in humans. It possesses antimicrobial and immune-boosting characteristics. Caffeic acid is a primary active compound in propolis and has been shown to be a potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory as it selectively blocks COX-2 and inhibits NFKappaB activation which protects the brain from inflammation and has shown to be protective against both gamma radiation and microwave radiation from cell phones.

Post-Chernobyl Russian studies showed that ingestion of the fresh water blue-green algae spirulina as well as apple pectin helped mitigate the effects of radiation exposure.

Vitamin D is a protective marvel as it has been shown to be an impressive defense against many diseases including cancer. It is also possible that vitamin D possesses cell-protective effects from radiation as it carries out its protective actions by a host of mechanisms among these being cell cycle regulation and proliferation cellular differentiation and communication Programmed Cell Death (PCD) (apoptosis and autophagy) and antiangiogenesis.

In a world fraught with so many different avenues and sources of deleterious radiation exposure being aware educated and proactive may help protect our bodies from their potential health-depleting and injurious effects.

by Michael Fuhrman D.C.