Can Radiation From Cell Phones or Other EMF Increase Your Odds of Obesity?

There is no doubt that obesity has been dramatically on the rise in the USA since the 1970s.

The percent of those overweight has more than doubled in the last 50 years:

Source:  EMF Freedom, Elizabeth Plourde, Ph.D. and Marcus Plourde, Ph.D. p.49

There is no definitive answer regarding the cause(s) of this obesity epidemic, but something in our environment has changed.  Human genetics can’t spark such dramatic changes in the human form this quickly.

New research in the past dozen years provides clues that radiation affects our metabolism, blood sugar levels, and weight.  Here are two such studies:

1. A group of scientists from Kaiser-Permanente’s research division proved that children who were exposed to high levels of magnetic radiation while in-utero had a 69% higher risk of suffering from weight problems and obesity during childhood than peers whose mothers had low in-utero magnetic field exposures, according to peer-reviewed research published in Nature’s Scientific Reports (1).   Kun Li, a perinatal epidemiologist with Kaiser in Oakland, CA, was lead author of the study. As he put it:  “These findings indicate that Electromagnetic Fields, from microwave ovens to countless wireless devices, may be contributing to childhood obesity risk. This finding could have implications for possibly reducing childhood obesity and better understanding the obesity epidemic.”
2. Important research by lead researcher Nora Volkow published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in 2011 suggests a relationship between EMF exposures and blood glucose levels.(2)  After studying the impacts of 50-minute cell phone usage on brains via PET scans, she and her co-authors concluded: “In healthy participants and compared with no exposure, 50-minute cell phone exposure was associated with increased brain glucose metabolism in the region closest to the antenna.”

Overeating is often associated with low blood sugar.  High blood glucose can cause overcompensating roller coaster swings to low blood glucose levels, prompting extra hunger.  I know if I eat a bagel or other high carb item for breakfast – I’m hungry again by 10 am.  Yet if I eat the same calories in the form of an omelet, I can easily make it to lunch.

Overeating is often associated with low blood sugar.  High blood glucose can cause overcompensating roller coaster swings to low blood glucose levels, prompting extra hunger.  I know if I eat a bagel or other high carb item for breakfast – I’m hungry again by 10 am.  Yet if I eat the same calories in the form of an omelet, I can easily make it to lunch.

There are many studies on the positive correlations between electromagnetic fields and diabetes and heart disease, so it would make sense that there are also correlations with obesity, since these three metabolic disorders often travel together.  These can easily be found online (organized by disease type) at websites cataloging EMF health research effects such as PowerWatch and Bioinitiative Report.

So if you’re trying to cut back on your radiation consumption…you never know…it might just show up in a reduced set of sugar cravings, or fewer disappointing moments on your scale!!   Most would call that a very welcome “side effect” of a cell phone or wifi-lowering diet.

Sources:

• “A Prospective Study of In-utero Exposure to Magnetic Fields and the  Risk of Childhood Obesity”, De-Kun Li, Jeannette R. Ferber, Roxana Odouli, and Charles P. Quesenberry, Jr, Scientific Reports of Nature, July 2012
• “Effects of Cell Phone Radiofrequency Signal Exposure on Brain Glucose Metabolism”,
• Nora D. Volkow, MD, Dardo Tomasi, PhD, […], and Christopher Wong, MS, Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), February 23, 2011