The uptake of uranium and radium from food and water in relation to calcium

Conference · Thu Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1988 · Preprints of Papers Presented at National Meeting, Division of Water, Air and Waste Chemistry, American Chemical Society; (USA)

OSTI ID:7164759

Wrenn, M E ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City (USA)

Observed ratios for dietary radium and calcium suggest that at least a 20 to 70 fold discrimination exists against radium uptake in the skeleton relative to calcium. It has been widely shown in many countries around the world that the relative radium to calcium ratio in the human skeleton varies from country to country, but within geographic areas, it appears to be relatively invariant with age. The ratio of radium-226 to calcium in intake, relative to the radium-226 to calcium value in the skeleton, is called the observed ratio, and varies over the world from a value of 0.013 to 0.039, with a mean of 0.024. In 1975, I inferred a mean observed ratio for uranium of 0.057 for the US. These findings suggest that man is in equilibrium with radium-226 with respect to the calcium in food and water. Most of the calcium would be ingested in diet, as would a significant amount, but not necessarily all, of the radium. The role of calcium for intake in water has not been examined.

• OSTI ID: 7164759
• Report Number(s): CONF-8909233--
• Journal Information: Preprints of Papers Presented at National Meeting, Division of Water, Air and Waste Chemistry, American Chemical Society; (USA), Journal Name: Preprints of Papers Presented at National Meeting, Division of Water, Air and Waste Chemistry, American Chemical Society; (USA) Vol. 28:2; ISSN 0099-7293; ISSN ACWCA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

560161* -- Radionuclide Effects
Kinetics
& Toxicology-- Man
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ACTINIDES
AGE DEPENDENCE
ALKALINE EARTH ISOTOPES
ALKALINE EARTH METALS
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
ANIMALS
BODY
CALCIUM
CARBON 14 DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
DRINKING WATER
ELEMENTS
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
FOOD
HEAVY ION DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
HEAVY NUCLEI
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
ISOTOPES
MAMMALS
MAN
METALS
NATURAL RADIOACTIVITY
NUCLEI
ORGANS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PRIMATES
QUANTITY RATIO
RADIOACTIVITY
RADIOISOTOPES
RADIONUCLIDE KINETICS
RADIUM 226
RADIUM ISOTOPES
SKELETON
UPTAKE
URANIUM
VERTEBRATES
WATER
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES