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Blue Light Like That From Smartphones Linked To Some Cancers, Study Finds (cnn.com)
A new study, published Monday in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, found that exposure to the kind of blue light emitted by outdoor LEDs, smartphones and tablets may increase your risk of breast or prostate cancer. The study compared previous exposure to artificial lights at night between approximately 2,000 breast or prostate cancer patients and approximately 2,000 controls living in Barcelona and Madrid. Slashdot reader al0ha writes: This study seems to say that exposure to LED light temperatures higher than 3,000 Kelvin suppresses melatonin because it contains increased blue light, and at least one city (Davis, California) has gone to the expense of removing higher temperature LED lights and replacing them with ones that have lower color temperatures. Specifically, the study found that "those exposed to high levels of outdoor blue light at night had around a 1.5-fold higher risk of developing breast cancer and a twofold higher risk of developing prostate cancer, compared with those who were less exposed," reports CNN. "Men exposed to high levels of indoor artificial light also had 2.8-fold higher risk of developing prostate cancer, according to the study."
"men who slept in “quite illuminated” bedrooms had a higher risk of prostate cancer (OR=2.79; 95% CI: 1.55, 5.04), whereas women had a slightly lower risk of breast cancer (OR=0.77; 95% CI: 0.39, 1.51)."
It's not uncommon for a single study to show a statistically significant, or even dramatic, effect on cancer rates. Check out this graph for good examples. You can't say anything about these kinds of studies except, "was within the margin of error."
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Non ionizing radiation does not cause cancer.
They have the proposed mechanism: blue light causes your body to produce less melanin, which means less protection against natural sunlight. It is a hypothesis worth testing, anyway.
Researchers that published this bull shit should be imprisioned.
That's a little extreme.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
And notices entrainment of brain waves.
incel is about taking matters into your own hands.
They have the proposed mechanism: blue light causes your body to produce less melanin, which means less protection against natural sunlight. It is a hypothesis worth testing, anyway.
The story is about melatonin, the sleep-related hormone, not about melanin, the skin pigment.
Hence this is not about sunlight protection, but about weak sleep quality, which is already known to be statically linked to cancer
Not exactly sleep. Melatonin also regulates reproductive-related hormones that would support an effect on prostate and breast tissues.
I don't know about cancer, but just for the sake of your eyes, get F.lux!
It automatically dials down the blue component of your screen at night (with a gradual transition). At the very beginning, it takes a minute or so to get used to, and might look weird.
BUT! After using it for a couple of hours at night, I dare you to vidit a webpage with a white background, and turn it off for a second. Your eyes will hurt, and you will notice that looking at a monitor is like staring into a lightbulb at night. It's really painful.
Please, just get F.lux!
Science is hard!
It's not that blue light that damages breast or prostate tissue directly. It's neurologically-mediated endocrine changes that have been well documented now for decades. It's only more recently that those endocrine changes have been linked to cancer.
The chain of causation is blue light -> retina -> optic nerve -> suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus -> pineal gland -> {disrupted hormones including melatonin and serotonin} -> {multiple and widespread physiological disturbances including disturbed sleep and chronic inflammation} -> {breast and prostate cell damage, precise mechanisms unknown}.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Well, that is one factor.
But actually the chain of bullshit is MUCH longer here.
Basically, it is know that too much 'blue end' spectrum light can mess with your melatonin levels, as well as other sleep triggers (including psychological..)
So then you end up with less sleep, more stress, opprer general body health.
And then you see a rise in some cancer rates.
And its all the fault of Blue light! From Smartphones! no, really!
Its the blue light, not the stressing about peoples thoughts on your current instabookshite, not the being interrupted at 11pm with a work message, not
stressing about your mortgage, not worrying if you can survive in the 'gig' economy.
No, its because the smartphone screen is a little the wrong colour.
They obviously need more funding. I bet they could link it to heart disease, suicide rates, hair loss, divorce rates, and child abuse if they tried a little harder!
Perhaps just go with 'Thing everyone is doing right now linked to all bad things in their lives', that way they dont need to rewrite it every few years.
The story is about melatonin, the sleep-related hormone, not about melanin, the skin pigment.
That makes more sense. I mean, the summary mentioned prostate and breast cancer and I was wondering... what the HECK are people doing with their phones where melanin level would affect prostate cancer?
#DeleteChrome
If you're looking at a white screen background after 10 PM, yes it's going to be difficult to sleep and your biological clock is probably getting messed up in ways that may harm your health.
Certainly going to white on black, and dim, when you're reading to go to sleep helps. But not driving yourself so hard and having a life helps more.
Think about not spending your entire life doing what others expect of you.
Bruce Perens.
I hate white LEDs. They are now everywhere and they suck.
Tried a few LED computer monitors and had to pawn them off on others because I couldn't stand using them. It's impossible to turn down the backlight because they are using PWMs and no matter what you do it is impossible to correct out the blue tinge from the crappy output spectrum especially at lower brightness levels.
Finally found an oldschool but higher end CFL display on sale with LUTs and color calibrator. Had to eat into contrast a bit to get the brightness I wanted but at least white actually looks white not some sick blue and the display doesn't give me a headache at night.
City replaced all of our nice HPS street lighting with blue tinge LEDs made by the lowest bidder. Driving at night is now unpleasant, blinding and obnoxious. They don't even bother with diffusers because saving a few pennies is all that matters.
Around here anything with blue leds in them gets taped or painted over or thrown in the trash. Of all color LEDs one could chose... to pick the most annoying needlessly over bright color possible really sucks. I think vendors have received the message on the use of blue LEDs but they need to be constantly reminded.
Christmas lights break my heart. I used to love looking at nice colorful bright Christmas lights. Now it is these eerie half wave blue flickering things that make everything seem dead. What's the point of decorating if the decorations end up being gross and unappealing?
I am not against LEDs. Just technology that sucks. Myself I have some LEDs but they use remote phosphors and high CRI with lower K. They look fine and don't have insane blue spikes in output spectrum. If I had the money I would probably have sprung for a GB-R or whatever LED display with a wide gaumet.
Most of the problems with blue light are caused by bean counters who don't give a fuck about anything other than BOM cost. Things don't have to suck but it involves customers pushing back so it is clear what we want and what we are not willing to pay for.
The possible health, eye, cancer links and negative affects on non-humans to blue lights have been in the news for many years now. It's probably prudent to hedge against it especially because it's a good excuse to get rid of or stop the spread of annoying shit quality lighting.
Melatonin is not likely to have any impact one way or another on breast or prostate cancer. This is not a proposed mechanism. It's fantasy. Now, if they had shown a link between these lights and skin cancer, that actually might make sense. But as it stands it's overwhelmingly likely that the correlation is due to some other environmental factor.
Also, the idea that smart phones or tablets might have any contribution to this is utterly absurd. Bright street lights are barely within the realm of plausibility in terms of having an impact on melanin production. Electronic devices are nowhere near there.
That said, lower color temperature lights at night are far more pleasant, and don't muck up night vision quite as much. So it would be nice to see lower color temperatures used more often. But not because of cancer fears.
Typo in the above: I meant melanin, not melatonin.
"Men exposed to high levels of indoor artificial light also had 2.8-fold higher risk of developing prostate cancer, according to the study."
Uh... So why are so many men exposing their prostates to their cellphone lights at night?
Bah. And I misread the whole thing. This comment is worthless. Please disregard.
What the fuck are you doing that causes sunlight to reach your prostate? Are you the goatse guy?
It is likely to be bullshit, but for a different reason:
It's a correlation study. Correlation studies are inherently weak, for the reason that it's all too easy for there to be a confounding factor which produces the observed effect.
If I were to guess, if there is a real correlation, it stems from lack of sleep. Not getting enough sleep over an extended period of time contributes to a tremendous variety of health problems. And exposure to blue light seems to impact sleep patterns. So basically: get good sleep, and you should be fine.
Is the study qualitative or quantitative. Is it double blind?
This was a retrospective study, based on surveys and questionnaires. So, no, there was no control group, and it was not double blind. This "study" doesn't even establish correlation, much less causation.
Wow! Good chart. I simplified the link: Everything we eat both causes and prevents cancer.
Lights? Melatonin? Sleep deprivation? Hah! I have a worse story. And a solution!
Combination Wrench, 5-7/8", 9mm, Chrome Vanadium Steel, Westward, 36A224
The California notice:
"WARNING: This product can expose you to chemicals including one or more listed chemicals which are known to the State of California to cause cancer or birth defects or other reproductive harm. For more information, go to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov"
Chrome causes cancer: Epidemiologic studies of chrome and cancer mortality: a series of meta-analyses.
Vanadium causes cancer: Toxic Substances Portal - Vanadium Quote: "Everyone is exposed to low levels of vanadium in air, water, and food; however, most people are exposed mainly from food."
There is poison in dirt! My solution: We need to find a new planet.
Gives new meaning to B.S.O.D...
I agree that it's unlikely but testing it in a study is not malpractice
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
light temperatures higher than 3,000 Kelvin
Like, say, daylight? I guess a person must always sit in the dark to avoid cancer...
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
Simple hypothesis far more likely than god damned melanin (what idiot thought of that?). Blue light causes you to get worse sleep. Plenty of studies on it, already confirmed. You get worse sleep, your body doesn't repair itself as well, including looking for errors during mitosis, your immune system doesn't hunt cancer as well, you're more likely to get cancer. Boom, easy.
So it's bullshit.
It's very weak and probably something else.
But you completely agree with it!
Eliminate water. Some people drown!
Yes, bright daylight messes with your sleep hormones, which is why most people... sleep at night...
weak sleep quality, which is already known to be statically linked to cancer
What? Well...fuck. guess I know how I'm dying.
Urg. No. No, no no.
Melatonin is a known highly effective anti-oxidant. It has long been supposed that melatonin deficiency was the cause for the link between poor sleep and cancer.
Melatonin is also known not to be produced when your eyes are exposed to blue light. Ergo, one may suppose that exposure to blue light in the evening when you may be sleeping can increase your chances of getting cancer over your lifetime. This study shows that the supposition is likely correct. This all makes sense, none of it is weird. The idea that smart phones or tablets have a contribution is not weird in the slightest, because the LED backlights in them have a very high color temperature, usually.
It's not bullshit. This has long been suspected for a long time.
Melatonin is an active cancer fighter in your body.
Blue light completely eliminates the production of melatonin during the evening hours.
A lifetime of having deficient melatonin should cause higher incidence of cancer.
Staying away is likely linked due to the fact that, at least in this day and age, most people staying up late are exposing themselves to some kind of intense blue light.
Black light matters too. I couldn't resist that.
Articles like this give me the impression that the field of study is still very uncertain: Circadian disruption and breast cancer: from melatonin to clock genes. (March, 2005)
Quote: "The global impact of breast cancer is large and growing. It seems clear that something about modern life is the culprit, yet there is thus far a lack of satisfactory explanations for most of the increases in risk as societies industrialize."
I've been experimenting with Melatonin: Schiff Melatonin Ultra 3 mg. 365 Tablets. ($11.94, but now, no one has stock, apparently. I have no idea why.)
Melatonin tablets seem to encourage sleep.
Over many years of having a business, I've developed a preference for working for an hour or 2 early in the morning, maybe 3 am, and later taking a nap in the morning or afternoon. I'm healthy. Do I have a different circadian rhythm?
I've noticed that people often act sure when their thinking is actually extremely sloppy. As quoted above, "... there is thus far a lack of satisfactory explanations..."
We will make this world a better place.
We know your plan: turn the whole world into Arkansas... where the women have more children than teeth and there's a Walmart on every corner.
(Ironically, even Arkansas doesn't seem to want this... but having never been to Arkansas, a lot of people on the coasts don't know any better.)
"I'm not sure if I'll have reception, but... call me."
Prostates don't get sunlight....and breast cancer too....If they said they saw an increase in say....skin cancer....then maybe their imagination would be closer to reality.
You know what else produces less melanin? Lack of sleep!!!!!
Like the subjects says. "Horse shit"
I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
It's an observational case-control study. A group of cancer patients and a group of healthy controls were given a questionnaire about their blue light exposure and home address. The home address was used to estimate the effect of street lighting/external light pollution.
One of the problems is that the cancer patients had a lot more family history of the relevant cancer, than did the controls. However, the blue light exposure was found to be a weak predictor independent of this on multivariate regression.
The odds ratios reported in the various subgroups are very weak - however, the positive results are only found in the maximum exposure groups (highest questionnaire answers about indoor illumination, and in separate comparisons the highest tertile of external blue light).
Hint: blood circulates and carries chemicals to many organs.
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That just makes the causation indirect, it does not remove the causation.
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"1.5 fold" means "changed by a factor of 1.5". Next up for you: English lessons.
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Hint: Correlative studies are bullshit and do not help anyone learn anything of actionable value.
Amazing how many people will discount sound science by someone saying - well it was funded by X. Can't believe them. Science is science. It doesn't matter who funded it. Find something wrong with what they're saying. Don't just dismiss it without a second thought.
The full article with the image, "Everything we eat both causes and prevents cancer", is here:
This is why you shouldn't believe that exciting new medical study. (Vox.com, Feb 27, 2017)
... what the HECK are people doing with their phones where melanin level would affect prostate cancer?
You've never set your phone to vibrate, have you?
His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain