- Too much ‘toxic’ ‘blue’ light can cause diabetes and shorten lives, experts say
- But 15 minutes of red light can get their blood sugar levels back under control
Long-term exposure to bright ‘blue’ light from smartphones and LED office lighting can be ‘toxic’, a study has found.
Being bombarded by blue spectrum light all day can disrupt the body’s normal functions and throw blood sugar levels out of balance.
Scientists from University College London say the modern ‘red-starved’ environment could be a public health ‘time bomb’, potentially causing diabetes and shortening lives.
Researchers found that excessive blue light, such as light from your smartphone, disrupts mitochondria, which generate the energy needed to power cells. This can affect blood sugar levels and contribute to aging
Professor Glen Jeffery said: ‘Sunlight has a balance between red and blue, but we now live in a world where blue light is dominant.
‘Although we don’t see it, LED lamps are dominant in blue and contain almost no red.
‘Prolonged exposure to blue light is potentially toxic without red.
‘Blue light in itself has a bad impact on physiology and can cause blood sugar imbalances that can contribute to diabetes and undermine health in the long term.
‘Before 1990 we all had incandescent light bulbs, which was fine because the balance of blue and red was similar to sunlight.
‘But there is a potential time bomb in the transition to LEDs in an aging population.
‘This can be partly corrected by spending more time in the sun.’
The researchers found that excessive blue light disrupts mitochondria, which generate the energy needed to power cells.
This can affect blood sugar levels and contribute to aging.
They found that shining a red light on someone’s skin for 15 minutes can bring blood sugar levels back under control.
The researchers used 670nm red light, which is also used for anti-aging treatments, and found that it stimulated energy production in the cells and increased glucose consumption.
This led to a 27.7 percent reduction in blood sugar levels, which could provide a new type of treatment for diabetes.
Dr. Michael Powner said: ‘It is clear that light affects the way the mitochondria function and this affects our bodies at a cellular and physiological level.
‘Our research has shown that we can use a single 15-minute exposure to red light to lower blood sugar levels after eating.
‘Although this was only done in healthy individuals in this article, it has the potential to impact diabetes control in the future as it could help reduce potentially harmful glucose spikes in the body after meals.’
The research, published in the Journal of Biophotonics, monitored individuals’ blood sugar levels as they were exposed to different frequencies of light.
Other studies have shown that blue light can damage the eyes.
Many smartphones have a ‘night mode’ that attempts to reduce the amount of blue light emitted.