The Potential of Health Supplements to Mitigate the Detrimental Effects of Ionizing Radiation: A Systematic Review

The negative effects of ionizing radiation on healthy tissue pose a medical challenge for both human space exploration as well as terrestrial medicine. Therefore, understanding the effectiveness of current treatments is important both in the application of current medicine and the development of new therapeutics. Health supplements are used widely in or by consumers to prevent the occurrence of symptoms following radiotherapy. To evaluate the possible efficacy of health supplements and their potential for use during deep space exploration, a systematic literature review was conducted. A search of PubMed, Cochrane Library and OVID (Medline) databases was conducted, identifying 77 studies that examined therapeutic effects of health supplements on ionizing radiation, of which 15 were eligible for inclusion in the analysis. Health supplements provided no beneficial effects to either functional or biochemical physiological outcomes. However, symptomatic relief was found in a range of irradiated areas of the body from a variety of health supplements following irradiation. The localized actions of both the radiotherapy and the health supplement means further investigations would be required before using these health supplements to protect against whole-body radiation exposure. Further investigations should also focus on the health supplements shown to have the greatest positive effects to address the lack of clinical consensus. The negative effects of ionizing radiation on healthy tissue pose a medical challenge for both human space exploration as well as terrestrial medicine. Therefore, understanding the effectiveness of current treatments is important both in the application of current medicine and the development of new therapeutics. Health supplements are used widely in or by consumers to prevent the occurrence of symptoms following radiotherapy. To evaluate the possible efficacy of health supplements and their potential for use during deep space exploration, a systematic literature review was conducted. A search of PubMed, Cochrane Library and OVID (Medline) databases was conducted, identifying 77 studies that examined therapeutic effects of health supplements on ionizing radiation, of which 15 were eligible for inclusion in the analysis. Health supplements provided no beneficial effects to either functional or biochemical physiological outcomes. However, symptomatic relief was found in a range of irradiated areas of the body from a variety of health supplements following irradiation. The localized actions of both the radiotherapy and the health supplement means further investigations would be required before using these health supplements to protect against wholebody radiation exposure. Further investigations should also focus on the health supplements shown to have the greatest positive effects to address the lack of clinical consensus. Keywords : Spaceflight; Astronauts; Environmental physiology; Healthcare; RadiotherapyKeywords: Spaceflight; Astronauts; Environmental physiology; Healthcare; Radiotherapy