RE: Bananas (K-40)

["Lamothe, Emelie" <lamothee@aecl.ca>]

I agree with you, but, when I was a child, this is what they were told.  I
remember this because my mother abhors bananas as did my aunt.

Emelie Lamothe
lamothee@aecl.ca 

> ----------
> From: 	Franz Schoenhofer[SMTP:schoenho@via.at]
> Sent: 	Friday, July 31, 1998 12:00 PM
> To: 	Multiple recipients of list
> Subject: 	RE: Bananas (K-40)
> 
> At 15:19 30.07.1998 -0500, you wrote:
> 
> >Many of my relatives where told by their MDs to eat more bananas in order
> to
> >increase their K levels rather than take some obnoxious tasting liquid
> >(K-lyte ???) 
> 
> This is nonsense. The level of potassium is "hoemeostatic" controlled
> (whatever this is). This means, if you ingest more potassium, then you
> excrete "at once" more, so that the absolut amount is always the same.
> Since potassium is found mostly in muscles, the only way to increase total
> potassium (not the concentration) in ones body is to gain muscle weight.
> Increasing the food intake by eating a lot of bananas will sure increase
> your body weight but not the muscle weight! Potassium will not be stored
> in
> fat tissue, the amount of which will surely be increased by the lot of
> carbohydrates present in bananas. 
> 
> Radiocesium behaves much like potassium and follows it in the body. We
> found in Austria, that athlets had significantly more Cs-137 in their body
> than the average population, due to their increased muscle weight.
> 
> I like bananas and will consume them in the future in moderate quantities
> in spite of the radioactive K-40 and the carbohydrates!
> 
> Franz
> 
> 
> Franz Schoenhofer
> Habicherg. 31/7
> A-1160 Vienna
> Austria
> Tel.: +43-1-495 53 08
> Fax.: same number
> mobile phone: +43-664-338 0 333
> e-mail: schoenho@via.at
> 
> Office:
> Federal Institute for Food Control and Research
> Department of Radiochemistry
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> A-1095 Vienna
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> Tel.: +43-1-40 491 520
> Fax.: +43-1-40 491 540
> e-mail: schoenhofer@baluf.via.at
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