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Circadian Disruption and Breast Cancer

  • Chapter
The Pineal Gland and Cancer

Abstract

Breast cancer is a disease of modern life. There is no consensus on the specific reasons, but it appears certain that something about life in industrialized societies is substantially increasing risk over the risk in nonindustrialized societies. One possibility is that disruption of our normal daily biological rhythms by certain aspects of modern life leads to a reduction in the hormone melatonin and that this reduction increases a woman’s lifetime risk of breast cancer.

The primary exposures to be considered include factors that might disrupt normal circadian hormone rhythms such as indoor lighting both at night and during the day, certain aspects of diet, including alcohol consumption, anthropogenic electromagnetic field exposure, shift work, and sedentary lifestyle.

Given the magnitude of the breast cancer burden in the industrialized world, and the lack of convincing explanations, examination of disruption of circadian rhythms offers a new avenue of investigation.

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Authors
  1. Richard G. Stevens
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Research in Medical and Natural Sciences, University of TĂĽbingen, Ob dem Himmelreich 7, TĂĽbingen, 72074, Germany

    Christian Bartsch  & Hella Bartsch  & 

  2. Laboratory of Experimental Neuroendocrinology/Oncology, Bassett Research Institute, One Atwell Road, Cooperstown, NY, 13326, USA

    David E. Blask Ph.D.,M.D. (Senior Research Scientist) (Senior Research Scientist)

  3. Department of Physiology Faculty of Medicine, University of Buenos Aires, Paraguay 2155, Buenos Aires, 121, Argentina

    Daniel P. Cardinali M.D.,Ph.D.

  4. WJB Dorn VA Medical Center, University of South Carolina, 6439 Garners Ferry Road, Columbia, SC, 29209, USA

    William J. M. Hrushesky M.D. (Director of Research (151) (Director of Research (151)

  5. Institute of Physiological Chemistry, University of TĂĽbingen, Hoppe-Seyler-Str. 4, TĂĽbingen, 72076, Germany

    Dieter Mecke (Director) (Director)

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© 2001 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Stevens, R.G. (2001). Circadian Disruption and Breast Cancer. In: Bartsch, C., Bartsch, H., Blask, D.E., Cardinali, D.P., Hrushesky, W.J.M., Mecke, D. (eds) The Pineal Gland and Cancer. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-59512-7_28

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-59512-7_28

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-64003-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-59512-7

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