`Super Nutrient' Lacking in Most Artificially Illuminated Rooms

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The Role of Light in Health

`Super Nutrient' Lacking in

Most Artificially Illuminated Rooms

 

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`Super Nutrient' Lacking in Most Artificially Illuminated Rooms,

Scientists Warn.

 

Tinted and dark glasses can harm your health and may depress your

immune system and endocrine glands!

 

A nutrient that travels at a speed of 186,000 miles a second from a

source 93 million miles away rates with food, water and air as part

of the life-support system on earth.

 

It is light from the sun.

 

But light also comes from manmade sources, and therein lies a number

of problems.

 

The wrong kind of artificial light can make students irritable in

school, reduce production among factory workers and make office

workers sluggish.

 

Not enough of the right kind of light can interfere with calcium

absorption in the elderly and contribute to brittle bones, scientific

studies show.

 

On the positive side, light can be used to control jaundice (using so-

called " billy lights " , UV) in the newborn. It also can boost beef

production; cattle that spend " longer days " under correct artificial

light are 10% to 15% heavier, with no increase in food consumption.

 

The light that some scientists consider a " super nutrient " is full-

spectrum light, which comes from the sun or from fluorescent bulbs of

special design that simulate sunlight. (Actually, despite the

designation of these artificial lights, they did not match the full

spectrum of sunlight.)

 

Incandescent bulbs and most fluorescent bulbs do not produce full-

spectrum light. This may be contributing to " mal-illumination, " say

photo biologists, the scientists who specialize in the study of

light's effects on living creatures.

 

The science of photobiology is a recent one. Some photo biologists

say doctors showed little interest in the subject until about five

years ago. The American Society of Photo biology was founded only

eight years ago.

 

One way of rating light is by a color rendering index, the CRI. of

100. Full-spectrum fluorescent, 91; standard cool white fluorescent,

68; other fluorescent, 56.

 

Under natural light or an artificial source that duplicates natural

light, there is less human fatigue and stress and better visual

acuity and production, studies have shown.

 

Consider:

 

-Plants grown under artificial lighting that comes close to

duplicating full-spectrum sunlight can be made to flower on preset

schedules by controlling day length.

 

-In dairies, changing the length of light exposure from natural 9 to

12 hours of light to 16 hours of fluorescent light of the full-

spectrum type increased the milk yield by 10% to 15%.

 

-Full-spectrum light is used to treat psoriasis, neonatal jaundice

and herpes simplex infections.

 

Rays from sunlight stimulate the pineal gland, a pea-sized organ in

the head. This gland secretes melatonin, a hormone that seems to

control many bodily functions. When infected into animals, melatonin

induces sleep, inhibits ovulation and modifies the secretion of other

hormones. Experts say that both plastic and regular eyeglasses and

contact lenses block some of the ultraviolet rays that travel through

the eye to the pineal gland.

 

-At the Center for Improvement of Undergraduate Education, Cornell

University, Ithaca, N.Y., students working in a class with

fluorescent light closely approximating sunlight experienced a

significant increase in visual acuity and a reduction in overall

fatigue, compared to performance under regular fluorescent lights.

 

John Ott, of Sarasota, Fla., a pioneer in light and health research,

for the last 50 year has been warning against unhealthy effects of

some kinds of light. Earlier, he was rebuffed, but now there is basic

research that supports his ideas.

 

Ott said he first noticed strange happenings in living things under

certain light sources when he was working on time-lapse photography

for Walt Disney movies.

 

At the Bronx Zoo curators credit full-spectrum lighting with helping

the tufted puffin, a shy sea bird, survive in captivity. Under the

influence of " indoor sunshine, " the puffins, for the first time, laid

eggs that hatched.

 

Strange things happened in Burnett Park Zoo in Syracuse, N.Y., when

sunlight-simulating lights were installed in an effort to stop

vandalism. " The zoo became a veritable maternity ward, " said director

Charles T. Clift.

 

" The cougars fell in love all over again and produced their fourth

litter, we collected five goose eggs, at least 8 lambs were born, and

the deer population increased by 20. Big Lizzie gave birth to a bear

cub. The wallaby produced a new mini-kangaroo and the chimpanzee got

pregnant. "

 

Phillip Hughes Ph.D., a scientist at Duro-Test Corp., North Bergen,

N.H., said the Syracuse zoo's experience is just one example of the

effects of natural-like light. Hughes is a vice president at Duro-

Test, the firm that makes the most widely used full-spectrum

fluorescent light, Vita-Lite.

 

A specialist in neurological sciences, physiology and psychology,

Hughes said. " Light is definitely a nutrient. It is essential to life

and the whole endocrine system. Light has a role in triggering

hormones.

 

`Vitamin D is synthesized by ultraviolet in the skin. Vitamin D

receptors help proper bone development and prevent development of

rickets. Vitamin D facilitates the absorption of calcium.

 

" Under light not closely approximating the sun, one study found

calcium absorption dropped off in the elderly in the indoors in

winter. But those under full-spectrum lighting had an increase in

calcium absorption. "

 

In an upcoming book on holistic medicine, produced with funding from

the National Institute of Mental Health, Hughes says:

 

" Along with food, air, and water, sunlight is a most important

survival factor in human life. Solar radiation activates other

important biochemical events in our bodies involved in endocrine

control, timing of our biological clocks, entrainment of 24-hour

circadian rhythms, immunologic responsiveness, sexual growth and

development, regulation of stress and fatigue, control of viral and

cold infections, and dampening of functional disorders of the nervous

system. "

 

He said the last two or three generations are the first to have spent

three-fourths of their lives under artificial light. " We do not fully

know the effect, " he said.

 

The Russians know more than Americans, perhaps, about the health

effects of various kinds of light.

 

Under light that is full-spectrum, Russian scientific reports show,

production goes up and absenteeism goes down. This kind of light is

mandated in many Russian workplaces.

 

In schools, it has been demonstrated in Russia, full-spectrum

lighting or ultraviolet treatment helps academic performance,

improves student behavior and lessens fatigue.

 

The Russians practice light therapy on coal miners who spend their

working day out of natural light. Once a day coal miners must disrobe

and spend half an hour in natural light or under full- spectrum

artificial lighting.

 

Hughes said the Russians have reported that this regiment is useful

in both preventing and treating black lung disease. " The Russian

researchers and health specialists have documented that the body's

tolerance to environmental pollutants is increased by full- spectrum

light, which also increased the effectiveness of immunization

procedures, " he said.

 

West Germany's government restricts the use of cool white limited-

spectrum fluorescent bulbs in public buildings because of their

distorted spectral output.

 

Ott, the pioneer health and light expert, maintains that sodium vapor

lights, now offered as the latest technological advancement, do not

reproduce the full spectrum of natural light.

 

" The Fort Worth, Texas school district was one of the first to

install sodium lighting in perhaps a dozen schools. It was one of the

first to take them all out because complaints of both teachers and

pupils of headaches, eyestrain and other health-related problems, " he

said.

 

Ott contends that another major problem with all gaseous- discharge

types of lights, including the mercury vapor and limited- spectrum

fluorescent light, is that they emit radiation that grossly weakens

muscle strength, affecting both academic achievement and behavior.

 

A recent Consumers' Research magazine report on the risk to health

from some fluorescent lamps suggested new probes by industry and the

government.

 

" There are good reasons, in our opinion, for government agencies and

industry engineers to initiate promptly laboratory research programs

on the effects of the spectral characteristics of artificial lighting

on animals used in research and on human beings, " it said.

 

A psychiatrist who uses light in his therapy is Dr. H.L. Newbold of

New York.

 

" Before we began civilizing ourselves into semi-invalidism, we

received an abundance of full-spectrum light: the kind that nature

provides for us in the form of sunlight, " says Newbold, author

of " Mega-nutrients for Your Nerves. "

 

" What we now get is a mere fraction of the spectrum. "

 

" Once we are all ensconced behind our office desks or in our living

room armchairs, science efficiently furnishes us with electric light.

 

" If your company is really up to date you are probably working under

fluorescent light, which may be an industrial engineer's dream of

perfection - but happens to be the most nutrient-deficient of all

lighting devices.

 

" Even ordinary light bulbs are preferable to the total artificiality

of the fluorescent environment. "

 

Newbold uses full-spectrum lighting in his office and has a special

plastic in place of glass in his office windows to allow the

ultraviolet from natural daylight to enter.

 

To let the ultraviolet from full-spectrum lighting into the pathway

to the brain, he suggests special lenses for spectacles and contracts

for his patients.

 

In the treatment of yellow jaundice, newborns used to get complete

blood transfers. That was until a nurse noticed that a jaundiced

infant seemed to be getting better on his own.

 

The infant's crib was near an open window, and natural light was

streaming in. The babies near the wall and out of reach of sunbeams

were not doing as well.

 

So light treatment was tried on babies with jaundice, and it worked.

Now, about 25,000 newborns a year get the treatment.

 

In fact, three famous babies received the treatment some years ago at

Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in New York.

 

Three of the Kienast quints had jaundice, and they were cured by full-

spectrum lighting. When they went home, it was to a nursery with full-

spectrum light.

 

 

 

 

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HOW LIGHTING AND GLASSES CAN AFFECT YOUR MOODS

 

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The type of lighting un your house and office can affect your mood

and may even help prevent or cure arthritis and other diseases, an

expert has revealed.

 

Even the color tint of the lenses you wear in your glasses or

sunglasses can rob you of energy by preventing certain light

wavelengths from entering your system, according to John Ott,

director of the Environmental Health and Light Research Institute in

Sarasota, Fla.

 

" Light is well documented that light entering the eyes influences the

master glands, the pituitary and pineal glands, which control the

entire endocrine system. "

 

Different kinds of lighting conditions include natural, unfiltered

sunlight, incandescent light bulbs, fluorescent light, sunlight

filtered through different kinds of glass, and sunlight reflected of

different color interiors.

 

In experiments on first grade students in Sarasota, researchers have

found that children who work in a classroom with cool white

fluorescent lighting are more hyperactive than students in another

classroom with full-spectrum fluorescent tubes which duplicate

natural sunlight but with shields to stop harmful radiation.

 

" Under the standard, cool white fluorescent lighting, some first

graders showed nervous fatigue, irritability, lapses of attention and

hyperactive behavior, " says Ott, author of Health And Light (Pocket

Books, $1.95).

 

" Within a week after the new lights were installed, the children

settled down and paid more attention to their teachers. "

 

Dr. Ott says that different kinds of lights can also affect the

course of disease.

 

Experiments with mice have shown that mice who live under pink

fluorescent light develop cancer more quickly than mice who live

under white fluorescent light and natural light.

 

Tinted sunglasses can also affect you physically and psychologically

because they block out certain colors of the light spectrum that you

need for health, Ott claims.

 

He says he persuaded a man with prostate cancer to stop wearing pink

tinted eyeglasses.

 

" For three years he has worn new full-spectrum clear ultraviolet

transmitting spectacles and, apparently, his problem has disappeared. "

 

 

 

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