After years of speculation that cell phones may harm your brain, new research suggests they may actually fight Alzheimer’s disease.
Yes, you heard right.
Microwave radiation from cell phones may protect against and even reverse Alzheimer’s-like symptoms, according to a new study involving genetically tweaked mice.
The results were so surprising that study co-author Juan Sanchez-Ramos didn’t believe them at first.
“I joked that the animals must have been mislabeled or that the power wasn’t switched on.”
Cell Phones Provide Protective Radiation?.
In the experiment, scientists examined the effects of cell phone radiation on 96 mice that were genetically engineered to develop beta amyloid plaques and thus Alzheimer’s-like symptoms. The mice normally developed the first signs of the disease around 6 months. By 8 months they were already experiencing cognitive declines.
Both the Alzheimer’s-prone mice and normal mice were then exposed to cell phone-level microwave radiation for two one-hour periods daily for seven to nine months.
The study found that if cell phone exposure began before the genetically engineered mice started showing signs of Alzheimer’s, they were less likely to develop symptoms later on in life.
These mice performed as well on memory and thinking-skills tests as normal mice without Alzheimer’s. Furthermore, the genetically engineered mice that were were exposed to the cell phone radiation after they had already begun to show cognitive deficits generally saw their memory impairment disappear after several months of the radiation exposure.
No one knows how the radiation protects against Alzheimer’s, but the team has some ideas.
One is that the microwaves create cellular stress in the brain, and that the stress jump-starts DNA repair mechanisms in the brain.
For instance, scientists already know that “minor insults” such as toxic substances or low oxygen will improve the brain’s ability to repair damage to proteins and DNA, Sanchez-Ramos said.
However he cautioned that the experiment was not “a perfect replication of cell phone use in humans.”
For instance, the lab mice were exposed to cell phone radiation over their entire bodies—not just to their heads.
He also urged caution against assuming the findings would apply to humans.
How cell phone radiation affects humans—if it all—is currently a topic of intense debate.
SOURCE: National Geographic
This website uses IntenseDebate comments, but they are not currently loaded because either your browser doesn't support JavaScript, or they didn't load fast enough.