Mobile Phone Radiation Deflects Brain Energy Homeostasis and Prompts Human Food Ingestion

Abstract

Mobile Phone Radiation Deflects Brain Energy Homeostasis and Prompts Human Food Ingestion Wardzinski EK, Jauch-Chara K, Haars S, Melchert UH, Scholand-Engler HG, Oltmanns KM. Mobile Phone Radiation Deflects Brain Energy Homeostasis and Prompts Human Food Ingestion. Nutrients. 2022 Jan 14;14(2):339. doi: 10.3390/nu14020339. Abstract Obesity and mobile phone usage have simultaneously spread worldwide. Radio frequency-modulated electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs) emitted by mobile phones are largely absorbed by the head of the user, influence cerebral glucose metabolism, and modulate neuronal excitability. Body weight adjustment, in turn, is one of the main brain functions as food intake behavior and appetite perception underlie hypothalamic regulation. Against this background, we questioned if mobile phone radiation and food intake may be related. In a single-blind, sham-controlled, randomized crossover comparison, 15 normal-weight young men (23.47 ± 0.68 years) were exposed to 25 min of RF-EMFs emitted by two different mobile phone types vs. sham radiation under fasting conditions. Spontaneous food intake was assessed by an ad libitum standard buffet test and cerebral energy homeostasis was monitored by 31phosphorus-magnetic resonance spectroscopy measurements. Exposure to both mobile phones strikingly increased overall caloric intake by 22-27% compared with the sham condition. Differential analyses of macronutrient ingestion revealed that higher calorie consumption was mainly due to enhanced carbohydrate intake. Measurements of the cerebral energy content, i.e., adenosine triphosphate and phosphocreatine ratios to inorganic phosphate, displayed an increase upon mobile phone radiation. Our results identify RF-EMFs as a potential contributing factor to overeating, which underlies the obesity epidemic. Beyond that, the observed RF-EMFs-induced alterations of the brain energy homeostasis may put our data into a broader context because a balanced brain energy homeostasis is of fundamental importance for all brain functions. Potential disturbances by electromagnetic fields may therefore exert some generalized neurobiological effects, which are not yet foreseeable. Conclusions Our human study demonstrates that the RF-EMFs radiation emitted by mobile phones results in significantly increased food ingestion, particularly carbohydrate intake. Moreover, a deflected cerebral high-energy phosphate metabolism, which is closely related to food intake and body weight, was found after mobile phone use. Therefore, our results identify RF-EMFs as a potential contributing factor to overeating in humans, which underlies the worldwide obesity epidemic. Beyond this, RF-EMF-induced alterations of the brain energy homeostasis, as observed here, may put our data into a broader context because a balanced central nervous energy homeostasis is of fundamental importance, not only for the regulation of food intake and body weight, but also for all brain functions. Therefore, with good cause, the high priority of this research field was already emphasized a long time ago by the WHO Research Agenda for Radiofrequency Fields [65]. Perhaps our data could serve as first step towards deeper insight into this issue and open a new perspective in neurobiological and obesity research. Open access paper: mdpi.com

AI evidence extraction

Main findings

In a single-blind, sham-controlled, randomized crossover study, 25 min exposure to RF-EMFs from two mobile phone types increased overall caloric intake by 22–27% versus sham, mainly due to higher carbohydrate intake. Cerebral energy content measures (ATP and phosphocreatine ratios to inorganic phosphate) increased after mobile phone radiation.

Outcomes measured

• overall caloric intake (ad libitum buffet)
• macronutrient intake (carbohydrate intake)
• cerebral energy homeostasis / high-energy phosphate metabolism (31phosphorus-magnetic resonance spectroscopy; ATP and phosphocreatine ratios to inorganic phosphate)
• cerebral energy content (ATP and phosphocreatine ratios to inorganic phosphate)

Limitations

• Small sample size (n=15)
• Only normal-weight young men; limited generalizability
• Short exposure duration (25 min)
• Single-blind design
• Frequency and SAR not reported in the abstract

Suggested hubs

• mobile-phones (0.95)
  Exposure was RF-EMFs emitted by mobile phones compared with sham in a randomized crossover design.

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