A new study has found that exposure to blue light emitted from mobile phones and tablets at an early age may increase the risk of early puberty in children and could harm their future fertility. A Turkish research team discovered that blue light raises the levels of reproductive hormones in rats that were regularly exposed to it during the study, leading them to reach puberty earlier and causing changes in the ovaries that could affect future fertility.
The researchers conducted their study on 18 female rats. During the study, the rats were divided into three groups: the first group was placed under regular light conditions, the second group was exposed to six hours of blue light, while the third group was exposed to twelve hours of blue light each day. In the groups exposed to blue light, puberty occurred much earlier than expected. The rats in the group exposed to twelve hours of blue light daily reached puberty sooner than those exposed to blue light for six hours a day, reinforcing the belief in a link between increased exposure to blue light and the timing of puberty.
The rats in both blue light groups showed elevated levels of estradiol and reproductive hormones, which correspond with the onset of early puberty. The research team also noted physical changes in the ovarian tissue of the rats. Researchers are concerned that a generation of young children raised in an environment of excessive phone and tablet use may see increased rates of early puberty, which carries many negative side effects, according to the British newspaper "Daily Mail."
