Study of UV Transmission through a Few Edible Oils and Chicken Oil

Effects of solar UV radiation on the biosphere are well known and a lot of studies are going on to reduce its dangerous effects on human beings. Atmospheric ozone layer is not uniform over the globe, so that less ozone over tropics makes it receive more UV insolation, than high latitude places. People in the tropics are continuously exposed to high UV dosage, leading to skin reddening and the dangerous “sun stroke.” In southern India people use some vegetable oils to protect the skin from sun heat. Studies of “sun stroke” show that people having skin of moderate colour are the main victims. In some parts of Southern Kerala like Kottayam, Ernakulam, and Alappuzha traditional people were using oil extracted from chicken, called “chicken oil,” for the treatment of “heat burns” and other types of burns. This motivated us to study the UV absorption characteristics of chicken oil, and compare them with that of other commonly used vegetable oils. It is found that the chicken oil shows maximum absorption of UV radiation of about 85%, and neem oil shows absorption of about 60%. Other oils show comparatively very low absorption of UV radiation. So this property of chicken oil may be the reason for using it as remedy for heat burns. 1. Introduction Effects of solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation on the biosphere are well known. In an era of atmospheric ozone depletion, there is concern about the solar UV radiation affecting human health. Ozone present in the earth atmosphere absorbs completely the solar radiation of wavelengths below 290？nm and protects our biosphere from this harmful radiation. Any reduction in atmospheric ozone causes an increase in the UV radiations, and hence the harms due to that increases the harms due to the radiations [1–3]. The existence of lower total columnar ozone over the tropics lets this region receive relatively large dose of solar UV radiation throughout the year in relation to the regions in the higher latitudes. Over the tropics the total ozone column is nearly 235？DU (1？DU = 1？mill·atm·cm) and increases highly at polar latitudes to a value of ~450？DU. The ozone present in the northern Hemisphere, where most part of the land is existing, is 285？DU. At the same time, in the southern hemisphere, which is mostly water locked, the ozone present is about 300？DU [4, 5]. Naturally, the population in the tropics is thus continuously exposed to a larger solar UV dosage. In the UVB region (280 to 320？nm), the biological efficacy is maximum at 280 nm, which gradually reduces to a minimum value at 320？nm; the magnitude of this efficacy spans