Cell Phones & Bones

Could cellphones be weakening our bones?



A study has found that using mobile phones may increase our chances of having osteoporosis later in life


Mumbai Mirror Bureau mirrorfeedback@indiatimes.com




Astudy has found that men who routinely wear their cellphone on their belt on the right side have reduced bone mineral content (BMC) and bone mineral density (BMD) in the right hip, according to the study by Fernando Sravi of National University of Cuyo, Argentina.
His research on how electromagnetic radiation from cellular phones may adversely affect bone strength appears in the Journal of Craniofacial Surgery.
Sravi writes, "The different patterns of right-left asymmetry in bone mineral found in mobile phone users and nonusers are consistent with a effect of electromagnetic waves not previously described."
Sravi measured BMC and BMD at the left and right hip in two groups of healthy men: 24 men who did not use phones and 24 men who carried their cellphone in a belt pouch, on the right side, for at least one year.
Measured using a test called dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, BMC and BMD are standard markers of bone strength. Average hip BMC and BMD measurements were not significantly different between groups.
However, men who did not use cellphones had higher BMC in the right femoral neck (near the top of the thigh bone): a normal left-right difference that was absent in cellphone users.
Thus men who wore their cellphones on the right side had a relative reduction in femoral neck BMC in that hip.
The phone users also had reduced BMD and BMC in the area near the thigh bone, close to where the phone would be worn on the belt. The difference between the left and right hip was significantly related to the estimated total hours spent carrying a cell phone.
There are concerns about potential harmful effects of phones. However, few studies have looked at if the electromagnetic fields emitted by them could affect bone mineralisation.
With the rapid growth in cell use, any significant effect on BMD could have a substantial effect on the rate of osteoporosis.
Although small, the new study raises the possibility that long-term exposure to radiation from phones could adversely affect bone mineralisation.
Larger follow-up studies will be needed to confirm or disprove this hypothesis, according to Sravi.
He suggests that studies may be warranted in women, who have higher rates of osteoporosis; and children, who would have longer expected lifetime exposure to mobile phones.