Episode 118
118: Ken Ceder - Nutritional Light Technology & Seasonal Affective Disorder (replay Ep. 49)
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"Light is a nutrient the same as food," says Ken Ceder, who joins the Quantum Biology Collective podcast to illuminate the silent epidemic of mal-illumination and its profound impact on our health. With over 30 years of experience in developing healthy light products, Ceder explains how our modern indoor lifestyles have disconnected us from the vital benefits of natural sunlight, leading to a host of health issues.
In this eye-opening episode, Ceder reveals the surprising truth about common lighting options and their potential harm to our eyes and overall well-being. He discusses the groundbreaking work of John Ott, a pioneer in photobiology, and how it led to the development of full-spectrum lighting. Ceder also introduces the concept of "nutritional light technology" and explains why near-infrared light is crucial for cellular health and countering the negative effects of blue light from screens.
Tune in to discover why morning sunlight is essential for setting your circadian rhythm, how proper lighting can impact everything from mood to metabolism, and why investing in quality light might be more important for your health than your vitamin regimen. Learn about the innovative Soul Shine light products and how they aim to bring the benefits of natural sunlight indoors, potentially transforming your health and well-being.
5 Key Takeaways
1. Get morning sunlight daily. Spend 10-15 minutes outside in natural light first thing in the morning to set your circadian rhythm and boost metabolism. This simple habit can transform your health.
2. Be mindful of artificial lighting. Most indoor lighting, especially fluorescent and LED bulbs, lacks the full spectrum of natural light and may have harmful effects. Consider using full spectrum bulbs with near-infrared light.
3. Take frequent light breaks. If working indoors, step outside or by a window for 5 minutes each hour to give your eyes and body exposure to natural light. This can counteract the negative effects of artificial lighting.
4. Use caution with SAD light boxes. Many lack near-infrared light, which is crucial for eye health. Research products carefully and look for options that include near-infrared wavelengths.
5. View light as nutrition. Just as you're mindful of food quality, pay attention to your "light diet." Quality light is essential for properly metabolizing nutrients and vitamins from food.
Memorable Quotes
"Light regulates everything. Your time clock is set by that light regulating your circadian rhythms. You have basically little time clocks in almost every cell of your body. If you're out of rhythm, you can relate to what jet lag is. Well, most people are wandering around unwittingly on some form of jet lag and don't have a clue. It's because they're out of rhythm with nature."
"If you were standing naked in the noon day sun, 98% of the sunlight's energy enters through your eye, goes directly to your brain, and regulates everything from circadian rhythm to mood to sleep to appetite. Just 2% enters your body through your skin, the largest organ of your body."
"Metabolism is 100% dependent on light. Light in the morning ignites your metabolism. It's free, it's right there in front of your face. It comes up every single morning from the beginningless beginning. That sunshine shows up even on a cloudy day, it's worth getting outdoors."
Connect with Ken
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ken-ceder-03866b10/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/solshinephotonutrition/
Resources Mentioned
https://solshine.org/ (use code “QBC”)
Health and Light: The extraordinary Study that Shows How light Affects Your Health and emotional well being. by John N. Ott
QBC Resources
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Transcript
Ken Ceder [3:19 - 3:22]: Thanks, Mel. Happy to be here.
Meredith Oke [3:23 - 3:50]: So you are, you've had a long career as an engineer developing a lot of different products. You have worked in, specifically in the lighting industry to develop healthy light for many decades. And as part of that, you founded a nonprofit called the Science of Light, where you try to spread the word about the concept of mal illumination. So tell us what mal illumination is.
Ken Ceder [3:50 - 5:36]: Sure. Thank you. Mal illumination is a term that was coined by the late Dr. John Ott, and he referenced it very simple with a quote that mal illumination is to light as malnutrition is to food. And in the simple sense, what mal illumination is suggesting is that, first and foremost, light is in fact a nutrient the same as food or basically similar to food. I think we would more call it a photonutrient being light. And the fact remains that that photonutrient is essential, just like the foods that you ingest for nutrition. And what happens is that, unfortunately, when I was a kid, it was very difficult to make us to come in from play. We were outdoors and didn't want to come indoors. Now I see with my grandkids, you can't get them to go outdoors to play. They're playing their video games. So things have sort of changed a bit. The point is, when you do not get natural sunshine that, you know, we used to get up until from the caveman, up until the last hundred years or so, we were outdoors farmers, hunters and gatherers, and basically we were collecting that sunlight energy all day long in most cases. What's happened now, being indoors, we're not getting that sunlight from nature. And not only that, we're not getting it. We're not just starving for the light. It's being exacerbated by being indoors under artificial light. It's in most cases, not at all similar to sunshine, in addition to a whole host of other radiations. So it's a combination, Meredith, of not getting good quality natural light, in conjunction with most cases being indoors, even indoors, auto, you know, while driving, and basically being radiated by lousy light, that is limited spectrum versus the term that John also quoted, full spectrum light.
Meredith Oke [5:37 - 6:09]: Okay. And just to get into John Ott for a minute, because he's such an interesting character, he came to this, in my understanding, not necessarily as, as a scientist or a researcher, but as a cinematographer. And he was filming plants and flowers and he started to notice how differently the, the blooming and the thriving of the plants was depending on the light that was on them. And he was like, hey, wait a minute, what's going on? Is that. Tell us about that.
Ken Ceder [6:09 - 7:16]: I can expound that to be a bit, a bit more specific. What really was the, the point of wow for John, at least, as he told me, he definitely was an observer, as you've said, he was pretty much, if not the father of time lapse photography. The speeding up of sequences that probably many people have seen and may not have known. It was the work of John Otto with Walt Disney. A lot of the Walt Disney, you know, sequences especially of flowers and plants blooming, as you've mentioned. The fact is he was doing the, he was growing the pumpkin for Cinderella for Walt Disney. And my limited knowledge of horticulture and memory was that the pumpkin plant, to grow it from seed as it grows, I guess it has both male and female flowers somewhere along the process of its growth. Well, John was living in Chicago at the time and he was indoors, I don't know the season, but he was doing his work indoors. And he was again with his time lapse cameras watching this pumpkin seed road. For some reason he was only getting male or female. He was not getting both is the bottom line.
Meredith Oke [7:16 - 7:17]: Okay.
Ken Ceder [7:17 - 8:19]: And he was a bit frustrated and he went to Disney and suggested that they use a tomato instead. Because he said the tomato be wonderful. But the point was Disney wanted a pumpkin. Anyways, in the midst of their conversations and John going back to try it again, lo and behold, a fluorescent tube in his studio went out. He went to the hardware, change the fluorescent bulb and basically started the project again. Whatever he was getting initially, let's just say it was male. Now when he changed the bulb, he was getting only female. He was in a state of shock, couldn't imagine what had happened. Then he realized changing the light altered the fact of a male versus a female flower. That was the beginning. That was his aha moment of recognizing light and biology, especially with his plants. That was the beginning, I think, of his primary research that took him from just being, you know, a photographer and time lapse and all the wonderful things that he was. But it really took him into the world of photobiology.
Meredith Oke [8:20 - 8:48]: So interesting. So he's growing this pumpkin plant. He needs it to bloom the way it would bloom in nature in order to film it properly. He's only getting the male parts correct. And Then he is only getting the female parts. And he's like, what changed? And the only thing that he could think of that changed was the light bulb. Okay, and so the light bulb, was it a different light bulb then? I guess.
Ken Ceder [8:48 - 9:18]: I'm sorry, of course. And yes, without really remembering the detail, the point was, as an example, you could have cool white. So there was a variety of options with fluorescence that one could get softer or brighter or whiter or whatever the case. I don't know what the change that he made, but the fact was that the tube was qualitatively different than the one that he had replaced. So two different tubes of two different spectrums elicited two different biological responses from the plant.
Meredith Oke [9:19 - 9:29]: Fascinating. And neither of them were the response that you would get had the plant been outside under the sun where it would have bloomed with both part with all the flowers necessary.
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