Ironically though, your body doesn’t really store excess potassium. When you eat a banana, you’re only replacing a banana’s worth of potassium within your body, so it ends up being largely net 0 in terms of a radiation dose, even though it’s radioactive.
Bananas genuinely are more radioactive than most other foods due to their high potassium content and the relatively high frequency of radioactive isotopes of potassium.
Most of the respondents to your comment focused on the bananas themselves as being the issue, but they are actually missing the point somewhat. Bananas do have more potassium and are more radioactive than other fruit, but actually, its the “putting them inside you” which is the much larger issue. The inverse square law applies to all forms of radiation and you’ve effectively reduced that to 0 by ingesting the thing which is radioactive. So instead of absorbing a small fraction of the total radiation emitted by the thing over time, you are exposed to ALL of the radiation emitted by the thing over time. Not to mention any radiation given off the plates is not even going to be able to penetrate your skin or clothes; whereas the banana is already inside you.
Is there something specific about bananas or is it just the go to stand in for saying that even fruit entire radiation?
The potassium taken up by banana plants during growth has radioactive isotopes which are concentrated in the fruiting bodies.
It’s well-enough documented that there’s an informal unit of measurement for it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_equivalent_dose
Ugh… They actually use bananas for scale…
Ironically though, your body doesn’t really store excess potassium. When you eat a banana, you’re only replacing a banana’s worth of potassium within your body, so it ends up being largely net 0 in terms of a radiation dose, even though it’s radioactive.
But you could exchange non-radioactive isotopes for the radioactive ones bananas are rich in, right?
If you can find a source of non-radioactive potassium.
Bananas genuinely are more radioactive than most other foods due to their high potassium content and the relatively high frequency of radioactive isotopes of potassium.
Most of the respondents to your comment focused on the bananas themselves as being the issue, but they are actually missing the point somewhat. Bananas do have more potassium and are more radioactive than other fruit, but actually, its the “putting them inside you” which is the much larger issue. The inverse square law applies to all forms of radiation and you’ve effectively reduced that to 0 by ingesting the thing which is radioactive. So instead of absorbing a small fraction of the total radiation emitted by the thing over time, you are exposed to ALL of the radiation emitted by the thing over time. Not to mention any radiation given off the plates is not even going to be able to penetrate your skin or clothes; whereas the banana is already inside you.
Are you saying not to eat bananas?
just don’t eat the uranium plates. or do. whatever. I’m just text on a page.
I’m saying it. They’re disgusting. Yech.
Maybe the little bit of radiation is why bananas are so damn tasty