Body potassium in Japanese male adults and its regional difference

For the general public living in the areas remote from nuclear facilities, main contribution to the population dose from such facilities comes from internal exposure from ingestion of food contaminated with the released radionuclides. Site specific differences in such biological parameters as the intake of radionuclides and biological half-time, if any, affect the reliability of dose assessment. Measurements were made of the body potassium using a whole-body counter on 140 male adults whose ages ranged 20th∼50th and who were exposed to similar levels of work load. Body potassium was 131±14 g for 67 individuals living in the eastern part of Japan and 130±16 g for 46 individuals in the western part of Japan in average. No significant difference was found on the averages between the 2 groups. (author)