Committed effective dose and cancer incidence due to ingestion of natural radionuclides in grains grown in an area of high background radiation

Food is directly related to the human being, since it represents an essential source for its subsistence. However, it is important that foods contain both qualitative and quantitative nutrients that can guarantee a healthy life. One of the natural elements that compose the soil and that are absorbed by the plants is the radio element, whose isotopes Ra-226 and Ra-228 are of the fundamental importance for food radiological protection, given its chemical similarity with the element calcium and its half-life. In this study, the committed effective dose due to consumption of natural radionuclides K-40, Ra-226, Ra-228 and Th-228 was estimated from high resolution gamma spectrometry, food consumption data and dose coefficients published by the ICRP 119. The values of activity concentration ranged from (389.15 ± 16.94) to (536.79 ± 22.03) Bq/kg for K-40, (0.79 ± 0.61) to (8.07 ± 6.37) Bq/kg for Ra-226, (1.46 ± 0.74) to (10.01 ± 1.45) Bq/kg for Ra-228 and (0.75 ± 0.32) a (43.97 ± 5.54) Bq/kg for Th-228. Estimated committed effective dose was 0.5 mSv. The risk indicates that four people in a group of one thousand will be affected by cancer, in case of uninterrupted and unrestricted consumption of beam grown in the region studied. According to United States Environmental Protection Agency this values cannot be negligible. (Author)