Cancer: Artificial lighting may be a major cause of prostate cancer

Artificial lighting in our homes and streets may be a major cause of prostate cancer – and your risks of developing the cancer increase with your exposure to it once the sun sets.

The discovery comes from the same research team from the University of Haifa that last year discovered a link between artificial lighting and breast cancer.

It seems it can affect men, too.  The researchers discovered that people living in countries with the highest levels of artificial lighting were 80 per cent more likely to develop prostate cancer as people with a much lower exposure.

The researchers aren’t sure why artificial lighting should cause cancer, but they believe it is something to do with the way it tricks the body into ‘thinking’ that it isn’t night.  As a result, the body suppresses melatonin production, and the lighting also affects the normal healthy functioning of the immune system.

(Source: Science Daily, February 4, 2009.  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090203135015.htm).