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> was born and brought up in south India and my grandma used to make me drink turmeric + ground black pepper milk every night I grew up in a part of South Indi
by gopalv 9y ago
> was born and brought up in south India and my grandma used to make me drink turmeric + ground black pepper milk every night
I grew up in a part of South India with a fairly high natural background radiation (thorium, mostly) and I did wonder if the practice boosted survival via accidental cancer protection from an alpha decay environment.
Natural selection is weird because the goal of taking turmeric might have nothing to do with the survival advantages.
- luka-birsa 9y agoNot sure if high natural background radiation really means more cancer. I tried searching but I cant find a study where apartment builings in Japan were inadvertently built using steel laced with radioactive elements. People (10000) were living in them for decades. Statistical analysis on them showed lower affinity for cancer related deaseses.
- gopalv 9y ago> inadvertently built using steel laced with radioactive elements. > Statistical analysis on them showed lower affinity for cancer Radiation Hormesis might be real (I hope so), but if it gets through drywall, it would be a different form of radioactivity to the one I grew up around. Alpha decay needs just a simple sheet of paper (or dead skin cells) to stop the radiation, but it messes with DNA if you happen to eat it or breathe it. That's the one from Th-232, in comparison bananas are also naturally radioactive, but the K-40 emits beta particles, which doesn't cause as much damage. Alpha decay is what a cup of Polonium tea would have (from the infamous assassination).
- luka-birsa 9y agoFound the study - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2477708/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2477708/ It wasn't Japan, but Taiwan.