Children and pregnant and breastfeeding women should avoid Brazil nuts

Brazil nuts Source: jchizhe/Stock.adobe.com

Apples, nuts, and almonds are traditional gifts for the Christmas season. However, if you want to give children something healthy to snack on at Christmastime, you should avoid Brazil nuts. This is because Brazil nuts can contain unusually high amounts of radioactive radium – a special case compared with other types of nuts, especially domestic ones. According to the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS), these nuts are therefore also not a good choice for pregnant and breastfeeding women.

Radium is a radioactive element that occurs naturally in soils. Brazil nut trees can absorb it through their roots and transport it to the nuts. These huge trees are native to the tropical rainforests of South America. Some of the soils there contain large amounts of radium.

Anyone thinking of the consequences of the Chornobyl (Russian: Chernobyl) reactor accident and other types of nuts can rest assured. Radioactive caesium plays the main role in connection with the disaster. This is measured only in small quantities in nuts and is also subject to a limit value.

Children and pregnant women should avoid Brazil nuts Source: Tomsickova/Stock.adobe.com

Radium is deposited in teeth and bones

It is safe for adults to consume Brazil nuts in moderation. The resulting radiation dose for them is low. "Children, adolescents, and expectant and breastfeeding women should avoid Brazil nuts as a precaution", recommends BfS President Inge Paulini. The reason: In children, the same amount of Brazil nuts can lead to a considerably higher radiation dose than in an adult.

This is because the human body and its metabolism change with age. Like calcium, radium is deposited in teeth and bones – and these are still being formed in children. Unborn children and infants can absorb the radioactive substance via the placenta and breast milk.

Dr. Inge Paulini

Protect children from unnecessary radiation

"If children eat Brazil nuts only occasionally, they are exposed to comparatively small doses of radiation. That is why the advice to be cautious may sound exaggerated. But children need special protection, including from unnecessary radiation", emphasises Paulini. "Children are more sensitive to radiation than adults. Unlike adults, they are often unable to make their own informed decision about the potential risk." As a precaution, Paulini also advises adults against the excessive consumption of Brazil nuts.

Radiation dose through diet

Everyone in Germany ingests naturally occurring radioactive substances with their food. With average eating habits, this results in a comparatively low annual radiation dose of around 300 microsievert. Even the regular consumption of small amounts of Brazil nuts can greatly increase this value.

For example, an adult who eats an average of two Brazil nuts a day for a year receives an additional radiation dose of around 160 microsievert. If a child were to consume the same amount of Brazil nuts in the second year of life, the additional radiation dose would be around 1,000 microsievert (i.e. around six times as high) – partly because of the considerably different body structure and metabolism.

If all naturally occurring radiation sources are taken into account, the population in Germany is exposed to an average radiation dose of 2,100 microsievert per year. Depending on local conditions and lifestyle, individual values are between 1,000 and 10,000 microsievert per year.