Exposure to high levels of ionizing
radiation is extremely bad for human health. Witness the effects of acute
radiation sickness suffered by early scientists studying radioactive elements,
or by survivors of atomic bomb blasts. Witness the complex procedures through
which doctors must shield cancer patients from radiation therapy, and the
long-term complications of adult survivors of cancer who were treated with
earlier technology. In light of all this, it’s clear that high doses of
ionizing radiation are dangerous.
But the science is less clear when
it comes to low dose radiation (LDR). Medical science, the nuclear industry,
and government regulatory agencies generally take a play-it-safe approach when
considering LDR. In recent years, however, an increasing number of researchers
(though still firmly in the minority) have questioned the assumption that all
radiation is bad – and have begun studying whether low doses might in fact aid
in genetic repair, prevent tissue damage, and other benefits.
Doing
the Math
The health effects of low-level
radiation are based on a mathematical assessment called the linear no-threshold
model. The model essentially uses math to extrapolate the effects of low doses
from observed effects at high doses.
Using data from populations exposed
to moderate to high levels of ionizing radiation – particularly those in
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, at the end of Word War II – scientists have
plotted a graph of radiation dose versus various diseases.
As expected, the trend shows that
cancer risk increases in proportion to radiation dose. In the linear
no-threshold model, the line then is extrapolated backwards to generate
theoretical risks for those exposed to much lower doses of radiation.
In other words, the model assumes
that if a lot of radiation causes a lot of cancer and a medium amount of
radiation causes some cancer, then LDR must cause a little bit of cancer. Or
put differently, there is no threshold below which the risk for developing
cancer does not increase at all.
This assumption has been in place
for decades, for various reasons. Toxicologists have focused principally on
high-dose effects, writes Edward Calabrese,
because those were the most clearly harmful. Studying the subtle effects of
low-dose radiation would have required much larger and more rigorous studies
that were less obviously needed to protect public health.
Evidence
for Hormesis
However, evidence that’s been
trickling in since the nuclear age suggests that LDR could actually benefit
human health. In other words, not only is there a threshold for radiation
exposure – a limit below which radiation should not be harmful– but at certain
low levels ionizing radiation may do more good for your cells than harm. The
idea that a low dose of a bad thing can have good effects is called hormesis.
Other so-called hormetic effects in
humans are well documented. At low levels, and in certain circumstances,
physical stressors such as exercise, cold, toxins, and fasting all bring
health benefits. These appear to work by slightly over-activating the body’s
repair machinery, relative to a small stress, with net positive results.
Research on radiation hormesis,
specifically, has a long history. A review of
studies published before 1940 found evidence of radiation hormesis across a
striking number of species of plants, fungi, protozoans, algae and insects. In
people, during the first half of the 20th century LDR was used to
treat pneumonia
and certain other medical conditions. The practice ceased as both the public
and medical professionals grew more cautious about potential long-term effects
of radiation, especially cancer.
Current
Research
But since the turn of the current
century, researchers have been reexamining radiation hormesis, applying LDR
treatment in various disease settings in laboratory animals.
Various studies in mice have found that exposure to low-dose radiation
protects against the effects of subsequent exposure to mid-lethal doses of
X-rays, minimizing DNA damage and mortality.
A similar effect has been observed
when the radiation is received in utero. Exposure of pregnant mice to
“Chernobyl radiation” (doses and types of radiation encountered by the bulk of
humans living near the site of the 1986 nuclear accident), did not harm the
newborn mice. And the researchers found that later doses of radiation did less harm to the mice’s
DNA health and levels of white blood cells than were seen in untreated mice.
Within the last few years, LDR has
shown promise in combating the complications of diabetes. Studies have found
that diabetic rats show faster wound healing when dosed with low levels of radiation. And other rodent
experiments have found that radiation at very
low doses can prevent kidney damage, one of the most common long-term
complications of diabetes.
Studies like these suggest that
the linear no-threshold model may be wrong – that there may exist doses,
above the normal background radiation and below the threshold for harmful
effects, that can actually provide health benefits.
Why
Radiation Might Be Good
Normally, we receive a small amount
of background radiation from space and from Earth itself. Normal cell repair
mechanisms have evolved to compensate for this. Cell enzyme systems repair
damaged membranes and mutated DNA.
LDR entails a level of exposure
slightly above the normal background. Researchers theorize that LDR might
accomplish its benefits by amping up cells’ inbuilt mechanisms for self-repair.
The result, it appears, is defenses that outstrip the threat, leaving organisms
more protected against various diseases than if they’d had no radiation
treatment.
The topic of radiation hormesis is
especially relevant given the ongoing debate among medical professionals about
whether low- to mid-level X-radiation from CT scans is harmful to patients. But
it remains controversial.
What’s more, it’s a complicated
topic. The optimal dose of radiation for any person probably depends on a
plethora of factors including genetics, age, and even a person’s lifestyle. And
even for the same person, the optimal dose of LDR might differ for one health
condition versus another.
That makes radiation a complicated
medical topic, and may explain why you don’t often hear its possible upsides
more widely discussed. However, in the scientific literature, studies related
to radiation hormesis have steadily increased in number over the last three
decades.
Radiation
in Medicine
Some researchers have begun trying
to examine low-level radiation effects in human populations. One recent study,
for instance, found that lung cancer incidence is significantly lower in U.S.
states where nuclear testing occurred or where uranium was mined.
The larger medical community,
however, remains unconvinced. A 2006 review by the National Academy of Sciences considered a wide range of studies but concluded that
evidence for radiation hormesis in humans was too thin to prove its existence.
It pointed out that, although benefits of LDR were indeed reported in some
studies, the downsides weren’t fully accounted for – things like gene
mutations, cell death, or cancer many years later.
For instance, in experiments
on low-dose radiation given to dogs over the course of their lifetimes, though
the dogs showed increased DNA repair and cell proliferation, they also had
higher rates of leukemia. “It is unclear whether such competing events would
result in a net gain, net loss, or no change in health status,” the authors
write.
There is a long way to go to in
research on low levels of radiation before understanding its risks and
benefits. The next steps probably involve more studies on how mammals, such as
dogs, pigs, or possibly non-human primates, respond to varying amounts of LDR
during fetal life and at different ages, and then testing their ability to
resist the onset of diseases compared with animals that did not receive LDR.
Answers, when they do come, could
reveal some important things about the development of diseases such as cancer,
and how our bodies’ repair mechanisms fight them off.
The original link with images and graphics can be found at: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2015/04/06/small-radiation/#.VSOM0uHRV2I
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