The possible effect of melatonin and cane sugar on the forming of tumours in rats

It seems that in the pet rat community, genetics and hormones are mainly to blame as a cause for tumours in rats. People are advised to spay females to prevent tumours and bad genetics and breeders are blamed when their rats get it anyway. As a pet rat owner 17 years ago (I usually had 5 females at a time) almost all my rats had at least one tumour during their lives. In my rattery I have 20-30 rats at any given time. They are of different ages as I keep my retired and backup breeders as well as a few rescues. At least half are female, some bred, most never, but tumours dropped to an all-time low. Yes they still get tumours but maybe 1-3 in an entire year. (Usually females older than 2 - 2,5 years developing mammary tumours) SO WHAT CHANGED? I have never owned rats from a “tumour free” line. My current rats are from both local pet store lines as well as pure imported pedigree lines. Except in the case of pyomethra, my females are never spayed. AS PETS I used to keep my rats in the living area where they were exposed to artificial light until late at night and where they received sugary treats every time I passed the cage (not to mention sharing fast foods and my heavily processed and unhealthy student diet). AS A RATTERY they have a separate rat room where they have a longer dark phase. I also switched to a healthier diet and feed very little sugar. I try to avoid cane sugar completely. ARTIFICIAL LIGHT During the dark phase rats secrete the hormone melatonin that supresses the growth of cancer. In a study rats were exposed to a 12 hour light phase and 12 hour complete dark phase. Compared to these rats, others exposed to a 24 hour light phase secreted 94% less melatonin while those who experienced light contamination (some source of light during the 12 hour dark phase) secreted 87% less melatonin.

SUGAR IN DIET Studies have shown that sugar not only cause cancer, but that it also fuels it. Research indicates that removing it from the diet and depriving the cells of it, could actually reverse cancer. It would be interesting to see if tumours in pet homes also decrease if rats have an adequate and complete dark phase and sugar and processed foods limited or completely cut from the diet.