Cell Phone Radiation and Breast Cancer

Hormones are extremely important substances in the body. Even small amounts have profound effects and the balance of hormones is very delicate.

There are a number of factors that can disrupt hormonal balance. Lack of sleep, stress, environmental toxins, and a poor diet are just a few. Electromagnetic radiation falls into this category as well.

Electromagnetic radiation, including cell phone radiation, inhibits the release of melatonin in the brain. Why is this significant? One of the functions of melatonin is to inhibit the release of estrogen. It is well known that about 70% of breast cancers are estrogen dependent. Removing a mechanism for estrogen suppression in the body would allow for elevated levels of estrogen to occur leading to increased risk of breast cancer.

Melatonin itself has also been shown to suppress the development of breast cancer. (Srinivasan V, Spence DW et al. "Melatonin, environmental light, and breast cancer", Breast Cancer Res Treat 2007 May 31; PMID: 17541739

Melatonin also has an impact on two other hormones, prolactin and epidermal growth factor. Elevated levels of these hormones can lead to increased cell division in breast tissue. (Robien K, Cutler G. Lazovich D, "Vitamin D intake and breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women: the Iowa Women's Health Study", Cancer Causes Control 2007 Sep; 18(7): 775-82, epub 2007 June 5, PMID: 17549593.)

In my next post I'll continue this discussion with a few more comments on melatonin's effect on Vitamin D and how this impacts tumor growth.