Research Progress on Dietary Intervention in Radiation Protection

The application of nuclear technology in energy, healthcare, and aerospace sectors is increasingly widespread, causing radiation protection to be an important topic for public health and biomedical research. Ionizing radiation causes harm by damaging cells directly or indirectly. Traditional radiation protection adopts physical barriers and pharmacological methods, which have proved to be effective but have certain limitations. The Mediterranean diet, fasting or calorie restriction, ketogenic diet, plant-based diet, and high-fiber diet are common and reliable dietary patterns. Dietary patterns contribute to regulating key molecular pathways including oxidative stress, inflammatory responses, metabolism, and gut microbiota. Enhancing the body's resistance to radiation damage through dietary intervention represents a highly promising nutritional strategy. Understanding the mechanisms and research behind dietary interventions for radiation protection facilitates the integration of radiation protection into daily life, enabling the development of personalized, precision-based dietary intervention strategies. This review focuses exclusively on research evidence and mechanism analysis to assess the impact of dietary intervention on ionizing radiation protection and look forward to their potential and challenges for clinical radiotherapy support and radiation protection for special occupational groups.