Mobiles 'make you senile'/Comfort-eating releases chemicals that fight stress

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Mobiles 'make you senile'

By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor.

14 September 2003

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_medical/story.jsp?story=443248

 

Mobile phones and the new wireless technology could cause a " whole

generation " of today's teenagers to go senile in the prime of their lives,

new research suggests

 

The study - which warns specifically against " the intense use of mobile

phones by youngsters " - comes as research on their health effects is being

scaled down, due to industry pressure. It is likely to galvanise concern

about the almost universal exposure to microwaves in Western countries, by

revealing a new way in which they may seriously damage health.

 

Professor Leif Salford, who headed the research at Sweden's prestigious Lund

University, says " the voluntary exposure of the brain to microwaves from

hand-held mobile phones " is " the largest human biological experiment ever " .

And he is concerned that, as new wireless technology spreads, people may

" drown in a sea of microwaves " .

 

The study - financed by the Swedish Council for Work Life Research, and

published by the US government's National Institute of Environmental Health

Sciences - breaks new ground by looking at how low levels of microwaves

cause proteins to leak across the blood-brain barrier.

 

Previous concerns about mobile phones have concentrated on the possibility

that the devices may heat the brain, or cause cancer. But the heating is

thought to be too minor to have an effect and hundreds of cancer studies

have been inconclusive.

 

As a result, the US mobile phone industry has succeeded in cutting research

into the health effects, and the World Health Organisation is unlikely to

continue its studies.

 

Mays Swicord, a scientific adviser to Motorola told New Scientist magazine

that governments and industry should " stop wasting money " by looking for

health damage.

 

But Professor Salford and his team have spent 15 years investigating a

different threat. Their previous studies proved radiation could open the

blood-brain barrier, allowing a protein called albumin to pass into the

brain. Their latest work goes a step further, by showing the process is

linked to serious brain damage. Professor Salford said the long-term effects

were not proven, and that it was possible the neurons would repair

themselves in time. But, he said, neurons that would normally not become

" senile " until people reached their 60s may now do so when they were in

their 30s.

 

He says he deliberately refrained from publicising his work to avoid alarm,

and acknowledges that mobile phones can save lives.

17 September 2003 01:35

 

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Comfort-eating releases chemicals that fight stress

By Severin Carrell

14 September 2003

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_medical/story.jsp?story=443220

 

At last, some welcome news for overworked chocaholics and doughnut junkies.

Scientists have discovered that comfort eating can relieve chronic stress.

 

Researchers have found a biological mechanism which shows that the body

craves sugary and high-fat foods because comfort foods actually help block

the effects of high levels of stress.

 

In other words, said Norman Pecoraro, a physiologist at the University of

California, San Francisco, many stressed or anxious people instinctively

turn to junk food because it works. " Our studies suggest that comfort food

applies the brakes on a key element of chronic stress, " he said.

 

They discovered that rats under continuous levels of stress released a flood

of a hormone similar to one found in humans. In response, the rats

instinctively turned to sugar and lard, which made their stomach areas

fatter. They found this fat directly blocked the stress hormone's damaging

effects on the brain and the body.

 

But regular comfort eating will increase long-term health risks, such as

heart disease, obesity and strokes, Dr Pecoraro warned. " In the short term,

if you're chronically stressed it might be worth eating and sleeping a

little more to calm down, perhaps at the expense of a few pounds, " he said.

 

" But seeking a long-term solution in comfort foods - rather than fixing the

source of the stress - is going to be bad for you. "