Radiation Protection Dosimetry Advance Access originally published online on May 24, 2008
Radiation Protection Dosimetry 2008 131(4):545-550; doi:10.1093/rpd/ncn160
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Activity concentrations and mean annual effective dose from gamma-emitting radionuclides in the Lebanese diet
1 Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences, American University of Beirut, PO Box 11-0236, Riad El Solh 1107 2020 Beirut, Lebanon
2 Lebanese Atomic Energy Commission/Lebanese Council for Scientific Research, BP 11-8281 Beirut, Lebanon
3 UFR Sciences et Technique, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, 6 avenue G Le Gorgeu, 29238 Brest Cedex 3, France
* Corresponding author: ln10{at}aub.edu.lb or lnasred{at}gmail.com
Received May 23, 2007, amended April 1, 2008, accepted April 17, 2008
Since the primary factor contributing to the internal effective dose in the human organism is contaminated food, the control of radionuclides in food represents the most important means of protection. This study was conducted to determine the levels of the dietary exposure of the Lebanese population to gamma-emitting radioisotopes. The activity concentrations of gamma-emitting radioisotopes have been measured in food samples that represent the market basket of an adult urban population in Lebanon. The artificial radionuclide 137Cs was measured above detection limits in only fish, meat and milk-based deserts. The most abundant natural radionuclide was 40K (31–121 Bq kg–1), with the highest content in fish and meat samples. The annual mean effective dose contributed by 40K in the reference typical diet was estimated equal to 186 µSv y–1, a value reasonably consistent with findings reported by several other countries.