Radiating good health with seeds

Apr. 8, 2003 12:00 AM

Well, I'm back from a week off. I returned to my cramped, fetid cubicle deep in the bowels of the Dark Tower to find about 700 first-100 entries and the usual collection of ponderings and musings and wondering-abouts that seem to overtake you people.

Unidentifiable bugs. Loud birds. How do you crack eggs with one hand? What's inside zits? If a dimpled golf ball goes farther than a smooth ball, why don't we have dimpled cars? You people are weird, or at least some of you are, but at least you're never boring.

This was my favorite:

I've heard that potassium is a source of background radiation. I sometimes feel nauseous after eating sunflower seeds. Is the radiation from the potassium in the sunflower seeds causing my nausea?

Now, I don't know about you, but this strikes me as kind of beating-your-head-on-a-brick-wall sort of situation. It feels good when you stop. It seems to me that if eating sunflower seeds makes you nauseous, the thing to do would be to stop eating sunflower seeds and not worry too much about radiation.

We are getting hit with radiation from natural sources - including potassium, specifically potassium-40 - all the time. Depending on the altitude at which you live and the kind of rocks and soil you live around, every year you probably pick up the equivalent of the radiation in six or seven dental X-rays just by showing up.

Obviously, this exposure to natural radiation can't be all that bad or we'd all be dead.

You need a certain amount of potassium to stay healthy, at least 2,000 milligrams a day. Potassium is good for your muscles, heart, nervous system and digestive system.

Sunflower seeds do have a lot of potassium in them, about 392 milligrams in two ounces of seeds. That's slightly less than the potassium content in a cup of yogurt and about the same as a small sweet potato. You don't see people who eat a lot of yogurt glowing in the dark because of potassium-induced radiation poisoning, do you now?

And sunflower seeds are good for you, especially unsalted sunflower seeds. They are a bit high in calories, but they also have a lot of polyunsaturated fats, a lot of protein, a lot of fiber and a lot of B vitamins and vitamin D.

Native Americans used sunflower seeds to treat constipation, chest pains, worms and ulcers. Worms? I wonder why they work on worms.

So anyway, I think it's highly unlikely that radiation from the potassium in sunflower seeds is making you sick. It must be something other than the seeds. Probably something really bad. Some rare disease. You should see your doctor.

Reach Thompson at clay.thompson@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-8612.