Magnetic field exposures suppress melatonin production and that melatonin is protective against breast cancer.

Due to the suppression of melatonin by light it can be assumed that too much artificial light at night could be responsible for generally increasing rates of breast cancer in industrialized countries.

Melatonin may decrease risk of hormone-related cancers or even act as a potent antioxidant and thus have a protective effect against cancer development.

In vivo, Cd mimics the effect of estrogens in the uterus and mammary gland. Melatonin is a specific inhibitor of Cd-induced ER alpha-mediated transcription.

Melatonin (MLT), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) inhibit growth and metabolism in several rodent and human tumors, to suppress tumor uptake of linoleic acid (LA).

Melatonin oncostatic actions on hormone-dependent mammary tumors are mainly based on its antiestrogenic actions, also by regulating the activity of the aromatases.

No abstract available.

Disruption of the circadian rhythms induced by light pollution (exposure to light-at-night) has been associated with cancer in humans. These observations might lead to use melatonin for cancer prevention in groups of humans at risk of light pollution.

A link between low levels of melatonin and increased risk of breast cancer has been suggested but we found no convincing evidence for an association between sleep duration and incidence of breast cancer.

No abstract available.