Radiation From X-rays - Just How Dangerous?

min

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Those who read Ray Peat know radiation is harmful.. But just how harmful? How accurate are the sources claiming the amount of radiation from one dental x-ray is equivalent to the amount of radiation you get from your natural environment in one day?

Here is a chart showing the risks:
http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/pdf/sfty_xray.pdf

By this logic, a CT scan can be extremely damaging, but a simple chest x-ray or a dental x-ray should be fine (although not ideal). What do you guys think?
 

SAFarmer

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I came across this new study and did not know where to post this, so am posting it in 2 threads about cancer and radiation in the hope that those interested will see it.

It is a study about CT scans done on 680 000 people with mean follow-up years of 9.5 . Overall cancer incidence was 24% greater for exposed than for unexposed people. We saw a dose-response relation, and the IRR increased by 0.16 (0.13 to 0.19) for each additional CT scan. The IRR was greater after exposure at younger ages The IRR increased significantly for many types of solid cancer (digestive organs, melanoma, soft tissue, female genital, urinary tract, brain, and thyroid); leukaemia, myelodysplasia, and some other lymphoid cancers

http://www.bmj.com/content/346/bmj.f2360

There can be no doubt anymore now about the dangers of ionized radiation and the risk of getting cancer.
 

charlie

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And these Xrays and CT scans are so easily prescribed for testing. :(
 

jyb

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Charlie said:
And these Xrays and CT scans are so easily prescribed for testing. :(

Seems ok now, just load up on aspirin, niacinamide, coffee, ondansetron etc before going.
 

charlie

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jyb said:
Charlie said:
And these Xrays and CT scans are so easily prescribed for testing. :(

Seems ok now, just load up on aspirin, niacinamide, coffee, ondansetron etc before going.
And red light directly afterwards. :rolling

Still, I will do my best to avoid any radiation testing.
 

Mittir

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That comparison chart they use is fundamentally flawed.
Radiation from natural sources like cosmic rays
works differently than X-ray. X-ray does lot more damage to
human tissues than high energy radiations like
gamma rays in cosmic rays. They are comparing apples and oranges.
I can understand how physicians and dentists not know about
difference between type of radiations . I wondered if physicist make the same excuse.
I checked an university webpage on danger of radiation.
They know the difference between gamma rays and X-rays but
they were justifying the use of radiation on the basis of risk and benefit.
They even use a comparison chart of cancer rate from cigarette smoking.

In KMUD:Cancer RP mentioned a study in Washington where
pregnant women receiving a set of dental x-ray had under
developed baby even when they have lead apron on belly.
 

4peatssake

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Ray Peat is very clear about the dangers of X-ray radiation.

Ray Peat said:
No topic can be understood in isolation. People frequently ask me what they should do about their diagnosed osteoporosis/osteopenia, and when they mention “computer controlled” and “dual photon x-ray” bone density tests, my attention tends to jump past their bones, their diet, and their hormones, to the way they must perceive themselves and their place in the world. Are they aware that this is an x-ray that’s powerful enough to differentiate very opaque bones from less opaque bones? The soft tissues aren’t being studied, so they are allowed to be “overexposed” until they appear black on the film. If a thick area like the thigh or hip is to be measured, are they aware that the x-ray dose received at the surface where the radiation enters might be 20 times more intense than the radiation that reaches the film, and that the 90 or 95% of the missing energy has been absorbed by the person’s cells? If I limited my response to answering the question they thought they had asked me, I would feel that I had joined a conspiracy against them. My answer has to assume that they are really asking about their health, rather than about a particular medical diagnosis...

X-rays accelerate the rate of bone loss.

X-rays do their harm at any dose; there is no threshold at which the harm begins.

X-ray damage is not limited to the area being investigated. Deflected x-rays affect adjacent areas, and toxins produced by irradiated cells travel in the bloodstream, causing systemic effects. Dental x-rays cause thyroid cancer and eye cancer. Recent experiments have shown that low doses of radiation cause delayed death of brain cells. The action of x-rays produces tissue inflammation, and diseases as different as Alzheimer’s disease and heart disease result from prolonged inflammatory processes.

I have never known a physician who knew, or cared, what dose of radiation his patients were receiving. I have never known a patient who could get that information from their doctors.

The radiation exposure used to measure bone density may be higher (especially when the thigh and hip are x-rayed) than the exposure in dental x-rays, but dental x-rays are known to increase the incidence of cancer. Often, dentists have their receptionists do the x-rays, which probably doesn’t matter, since the dentist is usually no more concerned than the receptionist about understanding, and minimizing, the dose. Even radiological specialists seldom are interested in the doses they use diagnostically.

It was only after a multitude of dentists had a finger amputated that it became standard practice to ask the patient to hold the film, while the dentist stood safely back away from the rays.
Bone Density: First Do No Harm
 

Platinum

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I did some searching on this because of the DEXA scans I'll have to take if I stay in this clinical trial I enrolled in, and found this document: http://www.measureup.com.au/media/docs/radiation.pdf

Is it really accurate (or anywhere close to an apples-to-apples comparison) for them to say that the radiation of a DEXA scan is less than the amount of normal background radiation in a year? and doesn't the amount you receive in a seconds damage you more than an equal amount spread out over a year? Scary enough, I just had dental X-rays a month ago and they are much higher than the bone density scans according to that link.

Also, what about radiation when flying in an airplane? in the last two years, I have flown 134 flights in the domestic US, that's 229 hours of gate-to-gate air time and 91,333 air miles flown. What is the risk of that type of radiation compared to "low" dose x-rays?

What can someone do to protect against the possible effects of air travel besides the usual Peat anti-stress recommendations?

In the case of my upcoming DEXA, I plan to prepare myself with the supplements I already take in the morning, plus extra aspirin and niacinimide, a dose of Vitamin E and selenium, chased with OJ, Milk, and gelatin (all before the appointment), followed by a trip to red light therapy immediately after the scan.
 

DrJ

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Apples-to-apples comparison for radiation dose is notoriously hard to achieve, and not really well-facilitated.

The term you want to look for as a closest apples-to-apples comparison is "absorbed dose" which should be given in Gray (Gy). In theoretical calculations, this weights the energy across the spectrum of the radiation source against the likelihood that energy is absorbed by human tissue (of possibly various types) to find out how much energy is absorbed in human tissue, for whatever shape of human tissue they used in the calculation. Note that X Gy dose in 1cm^3 of tissue will have very different biological effect than X Gy dose in 10cm^3 tissue.
 

messtafarian

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I just had a ct of my abdomen.

I really had to think about it.

Sometimes the information is too important to deny.

I'm not gonna argue with Ray, radiation is really bad. But so is PUFA and so is almond butter so you have to kind of manage your own risks. I think some of this might have to do with what generation you were born into. I was born into a MAJOR nuclear age and developed as a child with probably massive amounts of strontium 90 in my teeth and bones, but a person who is a little older or younger than me might not have as much cumulative exposure. If OP is in his 20's ,I wouldn't worry as much about a dental x-ray occurring every three years as I would about a person in his fifties who was going to grade school while nuke tests were going off over his head. And even that can be managed and healed.

My thinking is avoid it, if you can help it.
 

TreasureVibe

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So there is a 24% increased chance you will get cancer in your lifetime if you get a CT scan? Omg, what can you do to reverse the effects of a CT scan after having had one?
 

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