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Light at night and cancer risk
Eva Schernhammer1, Karl Schulmeister
1Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. eva.schernhammer@channing.harvard.edu
Photochemistry and Photobiology
|May 13, 2004
Abstract:
Environmental lighting powerfully suppresses the physiologic release of melatonin, which typically peaks in the middle of the night. This decreased melatonin production has been hypothesized to increase the risk of cancer. Evidence from experimental studies supports a link between melatonin and tumor growth. There is also fairly consistent indirect evidence from observational studies for an association between melatonin suppression, using night work as a surrogate, and breast cancer risk.