In sickly mice, small doses of radiation helped while vitamins harmed

By Stephen Ornes

Web edition: November 29, 2012

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Scientists found that sickly agouti mice, which carry a gene that colors their coat yellow, benefit from a small dose of radiation. These benefits were blocked by vitamins, though, turning conventional ideas about radiation and vitamins upside down.

Credit: The Transgenic Core Facility

If human health were a comic book, radiation would be a villain — and vitamins would be good guys. But in a recent study on laboratory mice, scientists got some topsy-turvy results. Low doses of radiation actually improved the health of animals born with a gene that can make them sick. And normally beneficial vitamins such as C and E undermined radiation’s benefits.

“Nobody wants to think that low-dose radiation could be advantageous and the stuff you put in your vitamin pill would be bad,” said Randy Jirtle of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. This is why Jirtle, who led the new study, was initially not excited about his new findings.

Visit the new Science News for Kids website and read the full story: Healthier mice, through X-rays