Determination of 210Po in calcium supplements and the possible related dose assessment to the consumers

• 210Po in the most popular calcium supplements in Poland was investigated.
• 210Po is present in calcium supplements and could be an additional source of 210Po for human.
• Inorganic samples were richer in 210Po in comparison to organic.
• Additives from sedimentary rocks, were richer in polonium in comparison to the rest of samples.
• Some supplements could be a significant additional source of polonium-210 for consumers.

The aim of this pioneer study was to investigate the most popular calcium supplements as a potential additional source of polonium 210Po in human diet. The analyzed calcium pharmaceutics contained organic or inorganic calcium compounds; some from natural sources as mussels' shells, fish extracts, or sedimentary rocks. The objectives of this research were to investigate the naturally occurring 210Po activity concentrations in calcium supplements, find the correlations between 210Po concentration in medicament and calcium chemical form, and calculate the effective radiation dose connected to analyzed calcium supplement consumption.As results showed, 210Po concentrations in natural origin calcium supplements (especially sedimentary rocks) were higher than the other analyzed. Also the results of 210Po analysis obtained for inorganic forms of calcium supplements were higher. The highest 210Po activity concentrations were determined in mineral tablets made from sedimentary rocks: dolomite and chalk – 3.88 ± 0.22 and 3.36 ± 0.10 mBq g−1 respectively; while the lowest in organic calcium compounds: calcium lactate and calcium gluconate – 0.07 ± 0.02 and 0.17 ± 0.01 mBq g−1.The annual effective radiation doses from supplements intake were estimated as well. The highest annual radiation dose from 210Po taken with 1 tablet of calcium supplement per day was connected to sample made from chalk – 2.5 ± 0.07 μSv year−1, while the highest annual radiation dose from 210Po taken with 1 g of pure calcium per day was connected to dolomite – 12.7 ± 0.70 μSv year−1.