ANALYSIS OF NATURAL RADIOACTIVITY AND DETERMINATION OF POTASSIUM CONTENT IN FOODS

Natural radionuclides, such as potassium-40 (40K), radium-226 (226Ra), and thorium-232 (232Th) originating from the earth's crust can enter the human body through foods grown in the soil, which can cause internal irradiation. Information on radioactivity concentrations in foods allows us to assess the amount of exposure to radiation through the diet. K, a vitally important mineral for human health, is found in nature as a mixture of three isotopes 39K, 40K, and 41K and of these, only 40K is radioactive and constitutes 0.0117% of natural K. Because natural K is abundant in the soil, the biggest contribution among natural radionuclides that are taken into the body through food comes from 40K, and beta and gamma radiation emitted from 40K can increase the level of radiation exposure through internal irradiation. In the present study, the concentrations of radionuclides found naturally in some grains and legumes (e.g., pumpkin seeds, cowpeas, bulgur, sunflower seeds, rice, broad beans, chickpeas, beans, lentils, wheat, rye, corn, barley, and oats) were measured using a spectrometer, and the annual effective radiation dose resulting from these radionuclides was evaluated. Accordingly, we found that the activity concentrations of 40K, 226Ra, and 232Th radionclides contained in food samples had values varying between 33.27 ±5.17 and 370.4 ± 16.73, 1.19±0.18 and 3.55 ± 0.34, and 0.98 ± 0.06 and 3.65 ± 0.37 Bq kg-1, respectively. We determined that the annual effective dose resulting from these radionuclides varied between 0.09 and 49.98 μSvy-1. The results obtained were compared with those from other studies. The present study also aimed to develop an alternate method, which is much easier and more sensitive, using 40K concentrations to determine the K content in foods. Using this method, we observed that the amount of K in the food samples varied between 1.2 and 11.93 gkg-1