Cell Phones, Rat Whiskers and Glucose Metabolism
The NYTimes set off another temblor in the interwebz with its story about a study showing that among a few dozen subjects with cell phones strapped to their ears those with an active set emitting microwave radiation showed approximately a 7% increase in brain metabolism of glucose in the area of the brain nearest the antenna. (The NYTimes' article came out the day before the paper was published and was full of quotes from long time cell phone worrywarts - both are obvious red flags). Anyway, the story quickly became its most popular and stories of how irrefutable "proof" that cell phones affect the brain is now available and that "biologic plausibility" - thanks to a couple of quotes in the NYTimes' article amounting to nothing more than rank speculation - is similarly established.
That living cells respond and adapt to their environment should not come as news to anyone yet it always does. So, for those surprised to learn of it, the finding that cells respond and adapt to microwaves (assuming the observation is confirmed) is in and of itself no biggie. Now about the two proposed mechanisms whereby increased glucose metabolism might lead to brain cancer.
One idea advanced was that extra metabolism might generate extra free radicals (molecular boogeymen to protect against which people have variously and at best ineffectually overdosed on vitamins). The other is that the extra metabolism might set off an inflammatory response (chronic inflammation being implicated in some forms of cancer). So the question that occurs is whether there are other forms of stimulation that set off increased brain glucose metabolism and, if so, whether any of them have been implicated in brain cancer.
As luck would have it there's a new study that answers part of the question. The title is entirely too long to type as I'm heading out the door so here's the link. Now if, by the same analysis (stimulation and PET scan), it turns out that stroking the whiskers of a rat produces an even bigger increase in brain glucose metabolism (which is exactly what the paper demonstrates) does it follow that one should hereafter forego stroking one's whiskers (or those of a loved one) lest the doing of it cause brain cancer?
