High Breast Cancer Rates in Industrialized Countries: New Insights from American Researchers
The high incidence of breast cancer in industrialized nations has long posed a challenge for medical researchers. A group of American scientists has proposed a new hypothesis to explain why women in developed countries are at a higher risk of this disease: exposure to electric light at night.
Researchers have linked nighttime exposure to electric light with the development of breast cancer tumors. These tumors grow because artificial light inhibits the production of melatonin, a hormone that regulates the body’s circadian rhythms throughout the day and night.
This finding has significant implications for public health since most women in industrialized societies tend to turn on lights at home and in the office during the night, potentially placing them at risk due to this exposure.
David Blask, a scientist at the Bassett Research Institute in Cooperstown, New York, stated: “In our experiments, artificial light stimulates breast cancer development; it is clear that light can inhibit melatonin production.”
Blask further explained: “Melatonin causes cancer cells, especially breast cancer cells, to rest at night. If levels of this hormone decrease due to exposure to light at night, the cancer ‘becomes insomniac’ and grows at all times.”
Q.HƯƠNG
