Mobile phone radiation changes brain metabolism, shows new research

Cellphones can influence our brain’s activity if stuck to our ear for more than 50 minutes. However, there are no evidences that this may cause any harm so far. Scientists at the National Institutes of Health found the change of the brain’s activity under influence of weak mobile phone’s radiation but they note that the study will likely not settle recurring concerns of a link between cellphones and brain cancer.

"What we showed is glucose metabolism (a sign of brain activity) increases in the brain in people who were exposed to a cellphone in the area closet to the antenna," said Dr. Nora Volkow of the NIH, whose study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The scientists conducted the study to examine how the brain reacts to electromagnetic fields caused by wireless phone signals.

Volkow said she was surprised that the weak electromagnetic radiation from cellphones could affect brain activity, but she said the findings do not shed any light on whether cellphones cause cancer.

Volkow's team studied 47 people who had brain scans while a cellphone was turned on for 50 minutes and another while the phone was turned off.

No overall change was found in brain metabolism in the course of an experiment. Yet they found a 7 percent increase in brain metabolism in the region closest to the cellphone antenna when the phone was on.

Experts said the results were intriguing, but urged that they be interpreted with caution.

"Although the biological significance, if any, of increased glucose metabolism from acute cellphone exposure is unknown, the results warrant further investigation," Henry Lai of the University of Washington, Seattle, and Dr. Lennart Hardell of University Hospital in Orebro, Sweden, wrote in a commentary.