Radioactivity of Brazil Nuts

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Abstract
It was known for some time that Brazil nuts have a high Ba content and their natural radioactivity is the highest among foodstuff grown in areas of normal radiation background. Samples of Brazil nuts of known origin, as well as various parts of their trees, were obtained from different regions of the Amazon valley and analyzed for Ba, Ca, 226Ra, 228Ra and total alpha activity. No statistically significant correlation was found between concentrations of Ca and Ba in the nuts. In general, however, the samples richer in Ba had the highest concentration of Ra. In samples of different parts of the same tree a certain parallelism was noticed between Ba and Ra contents. The high radioactivity of Brazil nuts was explained, by its tree capacity of absorbing and concentrating Ba, which is the natural carrier of Ra. Some observations were made on the possibilities of people who consume a considerable amount of the nuts, during many years, building up elevated Ra body burdens.

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