Miso Soup Found to Protect Against Radiation Exposure
Researcher Hiromitsu Watanabe of Hiroshima University has published a startling study in the Journal of Toxicologic Pathology about a simple soup – miso – and how it can protect you from radiation exposure. This savory dish often enjoyed at sushi restaurants, while consumed by Asian cultures for centuries, might just be the answer to recent radiation exposure at Fukushima.
The site of a recent nuclear reactor mishap is still leaking tons of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean. People in its wake, from Japan to Hawaii, and all the way to California, are still concerned about the true levels of radiation being reported, suspecting that they often underestimated – which they are.
In an ironic turn of events, officials fighting the toxic leaks at Fukushima have turned to the US firm that produced plutonium dropped on Nagasaki for advice on a ‘cocooning’ safety process to halt the leaks.
Read: Use Flaxseeds to Protect Against Radiation Exposure
In the meantime, this horrid disaster can be mitigated, at least to some degree, by a simple soup made of a delicious, fermented broth called dashi. Miso soups are made of different things depending on the location in Japan, but most commonly is a mixture of niboshi (dried sardines), kombu (dried kelp), katsuobushi (shaved pieces of bonito or skipjack tuna), a fermented mixture of soybeans with rice, wheat or oats and dried shiitake mushrooms.
The soup also contains vitamins, microorganisms, salts, minerals, and plant proteins. In vegetarian versions only the kelp and shiitake form the broth.
Not only does Watanabe’s study point out the efficacy of miso as a treatment of radiation injury, but also as a way to successfully mitigate cancer and hypertension. Misos used in a study with mice, that had the longest fermentation period (180-days), increased survival time significantly. Colon cancers, azoxymethane (AOM)-induced aberrant crypt foci (ACF), breast tumors, gastric tumors, and lung tumors were suppressed with miso treatments. Even though miso is known for high sodium content, blood pressure in the rats was stabilized.
Miso was also studied after the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, by a physician named Tatuichiro Akizuki. Even though he and 20 other employees were in Nagasaki treating patients with acute tuberculosis, they did not develop radiation disease. He figured out it was because he and his staff consumed large amounts of wakame miso soup. Wakame is a type of seaweed that has also been shown to help reduce radiation damage.
When a Chernobyl-like nuclear power plant accident happened in the Ukraine in 1986, many Europeans consumed miso soup as a preventative measure to guard against radiation disease. It was these historical accounts of miso being an effective radiation therapy which inspired the more recent study.
Should we be concerned about consuming seaweed and other similar foods cultivated in radiated environments?
That’s my first question, not to mention the problems with tuna the other commenter brought up…
This is all well and good, but what happens when all of the skipjack tuna, for example, are contaminated with the Fukushima radiation? What then?
Sounds like someone Wannabe a doctor. Just more BS to make people feel better about dying a slow painful death.
Yeah, like chemo and radiation makes you feel so great. Try vomiting every day, losing all your hair and looking like a sick skeleton after taking all that crappy chemo and radiation. It kills bad and good bacteria, messes up your immune system and makes you susceptible to more diseases. Thus, coming back years later with a vegence.
I agree with you Sal. Some Drs. can be very good at making people sick. People out there have no idea. If the FDA says its good, then it must be good. Come on people. It will help you to read scientific publications outside of the U.S. You know other countries have outlawed substances, especially in food, that our FDA says, yes of course those things are safe for your children. Feed it to them and then take them to get their Gardasil vaccine (which Japan will no longer support now either because of its effects on fertility).
Nutritionist and herbalist have better sources to learn from and heal with. They don’t just treat symptoms. Did any of you catch that one Dr. on Dr. Oz that said everyone could benefit from a statin a day. We all know what a very bad idea that is. You shouldn’t call people who heal the whole body, as the interdependent system that it is, wannabes because the alternative healers are in many cases far are already better. If they were wannabes then they would be taking a step down. Even Drs. know it and are becoming proficient, certified, or earning degrees in these alternate fields. Problem is their numbers are growing too slowly. You need a knowledgeable use of them both to get the best care.The closest one to me is 2 hours away.
And Homeopathy 🙂
Ukraine, not “the Ukraine” – great article. I think there’s a lot of benefits to eating fermented and cultured foods!
Easy to make…just had some…delicious and inexpensive…