A new study shows that using a mobile phone for 50 minutes increases brain metabolism and sugar usage in the region closest to the antenna.

With the vast majority of the population using mobile phones; 91 percent in the United States averaging 21 minutes a day, according to the Boston Globe, people have become naturally curious as to whether their habits have a negative effect on their brains. The largest study conducted in Demark on 420,000 cell phone users found no link with brain cancer. This new study conducted by The National Institutes of Health, and published in The Journal of the American Medical Association shows that the area of the brain closest to mobile phone antenna presents a higher activity of 7 percent than the other regions.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that it used to be that this increase in brain activity was directly linked to the electromagnetic radiation that the phone emits, but now there is proof that the increased activity is merely linked to an increase in brain metabolism and use of glucose as a source of energy.

“Because the brain uses glucose when it’s activated, we interpreted this to mean that the electromagnetic waves were activating the cells,” said Dr. Nora Volkow who is a lead researcher for the study and a director at NIH. “This type of activation by itself we don’t expect to have harmful effects.”

Dr. Mitch Berger of the Neurosurgery Department at UCSF said that although more research was needed, there was no need to worry. He explained that brain metabolism is activated whenever neurons are stimulated. Another mental task such as trying to conjugate a verb would show a similar increase in brain activity, and there’s no medical evidence that prolonged activity is damaging to the brain

Although so far no link between mobile phone usage and brain cancer has been established, researchers still encourage people to be prudent and if possible put a headset between them and their phones.

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