Radiation protection for people with occupationally high radiation exposure
Some professionals have to live with somewhat increased radiation exposure due to their work.Pilots, flight attendants(stewardesses), radiologists and people who handle radioactive materials.
Flying personnel belong to the professional groups with the highest radiation exposure.
Flying staff - pilot and stewardess
5 µSv is incurred per flight level at high altitude, which increases to 60 µSv to over 100 µSv per intercontinental flight (depending on the proximity to the pole). This is a lot compared to cosmic radiation on the ground (300 µSv per year). For example, with 50 intercontinental flights at 60 µSv = 3000 µSv per year, the flying personnel have to cope with ten times the radiation compared to ground personnel (data from Wikipedia).
A 2002 study found a higher incidence of skin cancer and a 30% higher incidence of breast cancer in a group of flight attendants. In thesem FOKUS article even reports 90% more breast cancer and 15 times more bone cancer cases in flight attendants.
Overall, it can be stated that the radiation exposure for flying personnel is increased, but this exposure is far exceeded by other sources (smoking, medical radiation).
However, in view of the research results, supplementing flying personnel with tocotrienol preparations would be a simple and cost-effective preventative measure.
Considerations for dosage of tocotrienol protection for pilots and flight attendants
The dosage that protected the animals in the mentioned study from radiation death was astronomically high at 400mg/kg. But the radiation was also extremely high in the experiment (80% deaths in 4 weeks).
For people with occupationally increased radiation exposure, a conservative tocotrienol intake well below the (EFSA, WHO) recommendations for maximum dosage of vitamin E would be superior. The EFSA states a maximum of 300 mg aTÄ (alpha-tocopherol equivalents) per day as a safe dosage for life. This corresponds to a very large amount of tocotrienols (1.22g tocomin, approx. 4g DMT3).
However, we believe that an amount of 100 mg to 500 mg of tocotrienol is sufficient for long-term use.
On the market Capsules with 50 to 100 mg per capsule are currently offered. For slightly higher dosages, liquid tocotrienols would be recommended.
