Because of the recent unfortunate events, the radiation becomes more and more a concern for everybody. In the wake of these events, Anne, a friend from Canada, sent me a very, very interesting piece of advice, in the hope that it might help some people if the situation in Japan becomes more grave.
Since I grew up in a country affected by the radioactive cloud provoked by the Chernobyl disaster and I have relatives who subsequently suffered, I find this piece of information important to be known…
It is about a study published many years ago in the Japanese press, study made by the Japanese doctor Shinichiro Akizuki, who was the director of the Saint Francis Hospital from Nagasaki during World War II.
The study indicates that miso, the traditional Japanese seasoning, helps protect against radiation sickness, removing the radioactive elements from the human body and controlling the inflammations caused by radioactivity!
Misoshiru, traditional Japanese miso soup
Doctor Akizuki experimented on rats with two radioactive isotopes, the iodine-131 and the caesium-134, elements produced in nuclear reactor accidents. When the human body is exposed to radiation, the iodine-131 is absorbed in the thyroid gland, and the caesium-134 accumulates in intestines and muscles.
The researchers from the Hiroshima University Medical Center discovered that several hours after being exposed to radiation, compared to the control group, the group of rats fed with miso were having in the blood a level of iodine-131 diminished by 50%.
In another experiment, which involved a lethal dose of radiation, over 80% of the rats from both groups died after a week, but the organs’ inflammation (typical symptom after exposure to radiation) was diminished on rats fed on miso.
After the atomic bombing of Nagasaki (August 9 1945), doctor Akizuki fed his patients and hospital workers with brown rice, miso, vegetables and seaweed and seemingly there are records attesting that the results were very encouraging…
Miso is produced by fermenting rice, barley and soybeans with salt and a fungus called kōjikin. The most frequent use of miso is the miso soup, misoshiru 「味噌汁」, which comes in many flavors (and all of them are delicious).
You can find more information about miso on this subject at www.macrobiotic.org/Miso.htm
