Banana equivalent dose (BED) is an informal measurement of...

Banana equivalent dose (BED) is an informal measurement of ionizing radiation exposure, intended as a general educational example to compare a dose of radioactivity to the dose one is exposed to by eating one average-sized banana. Bananas contain naturally occurring radioactive isotopes, particularly potassium-40 (⁴⁰K). One BED is often correlated to 0.1 µSv; however, in practice, this dose is not cumulative, as the principal radioactive component is excreted to maintain metabolic equilibrium.^[1] The BED is only meant to inform the public about the existence of very low levels of natural radioactivity within a natural food and is not a formally adopted dose measurement.