Ever wished you could actually “sleep like a baby”?
Most 1- to 3-year-olds have super high melatonin levels! That’s why young children sleep so much and so soundly. Then melatonin levels plummet by 80% throughout childhood.[1]
What’s more, melatonin levels continue to drop throughout your life, starting perhaps around age 30.
That’s started some physicians and scientists thinking about whether more adults could benefit from higher doses of melatonin… especially when dealing with serious diseases.
Many studies support the efficacy of low and moderate doses of melatonin for its sleep effects. Unfortunately, there are fewer studies that have looked at long-term effects of high doses.
Here’s what we know so far…
Melatonin’s Growing Popularity
Melatonin has become a popular sleep supplement, known as a chrono biotic.
However, research over the past decade has established melatonin as a player in many health issues, including cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, MS, fertility, PCOS, and more. During Covid-19 it was used as an immune-active agent and mitochondrial regulator.[2]
There are interesting similarities between melatonin and vitamin D regarding their scope of impact on health. Some people predict that melatonin will become the “next vitamin D.”
Both substances act as hormones, both affect multiple organ systems, both are found in the skin, and both are responsive to sunlight and darkness.
There’s been widespread concern about vitamin D deficiency as a “sunlight deficiency.” Now there’s growing concern about reduced melatonin secretion creating a “darkness deficiency” from overexposure to artificial blue light.
Melatonin and Your Immune System
Aging is linked with decreased immune function (immune-senescence)… which is why cancer and other infectious, degenerative diseases are more common in the elderly. All parts of the immune system deteriorate with age.
Melatonin stimulates the production of progenitor cells (similar to stem cells) for granulocytes and macrophages.
Granulocytes are a type of immune cell that includes neutrophils, eosinophils, and basophils. Macrophages are a type of white blood cell that surrounds and kills microorganisms, removes dead cells, and stimulates other immune system cells.
In addition, melatonin stimulates production of natural killer (NK) cells and CD4+ cells.
NK cells are immune cells with enzymes that kill tumor cells or virus-infected cells. CD4+ cells carry out many functions including activation of the innate immune system cells and suppressing the immune reaction. v
Melatonin and Cancer
As you’ll hear from today’s podcast guest, Logan Duvall gave his young son melatonin as an adjunct therapy to help him fight his cancer.
There’s good reason for that. Go to https://pubmed.com and enter the search term “melatonin and cancer” and you’ll get 3,248 published studies (as of this writing)! All investigating the potential for melatonin as a cancer prevention or as an adjunct therapy for cancer patients.
Melatonin has been shown in trials to help patients with a variety of cancers including primary brain tumors, non-small-cell lung cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, skin cancer, liver cancer, cervical cancer, ovarian cancer, and brain metastases in doses up to 40 mg daily.
Melatonin works well with conventional treatments.
In two different reviews of clinical trials assessing melatonin use during chemotherapy or radiation in the treatment of solid tumors, melatonin decreased the therapies’ negative side effects such as fatigue and low platelet counts. It also improved sensitivity to the treatment, and increased one-year survival rates.[3, 4]
The combination of melatonin with conventional drugs improves the drug sensitivity of treatments in both solid and liquid tumors.[5]
Melatonin exhibits a wide range of benefits against cancer by inducing apoptosis, halting proliferation, and inhibiting metastasis.[5]
Melatonin and Rheumatoid Arthritis
Preliminary research suggests that melatonin may increase the severity of rheumatoid arthritis (RA)… in stark contrast to the beneficial effects in other autoimmune diseases.[6]
However, the evidence seems to be mixed. Some studies show that low-dose melatonin (<10 mg) doesn’t seem to cause harmful effects in individuals with autoimmune diseases, such as MS, ulcerative colitis, lupus, and IBS.[7-13]
Some studies also show melatonin is helpful for RA because it inhibits certain inflammatory factors. A 2021 study found that 6 mg per day of melatonin for 12 weeks improved many disease markers in RA patients.[14]
Speak with your doctor if you’re considering using melatonin and have RA. Using under 10 mg can be considered by your physician.
Melatonin and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD)
Aggregation of Amyloid β (Aβ) plaques or neurotoxic Aβo oligomers in the brain is a telltale symptom of AD development.
Melatonin shows a strong neuroprotective effect that can prevent or slow the progression of AD.[15]
PubMed contains some 680 published studies about this relationship, if you want to investigate further.
How Much Melatonin Should You Take?
That’s the $64,000 question!
Integrative doctors have traditionally erred on the side of caution about amounts, and therefore recommended low levels.
Fortunately, a surprising number of human studies have been done using varying melatonin doses – with no serious side effects noted.
High doses of melatonin (50 mg or more) have been used in preclinical and clinical settings. And even at these high doses it shows a good safety profile and improved disease outcomes.
What we’re lacking is long-term studies that reveal whether there’s harm from long-term use especially at those high levels.
What the Short-Term Studies Say About How Much
An analysis of 50 studies about 1-20 mg of melatonin showed that adverse events were minor and transient. When taken during the day, fatigue was the most common side effect.
In a study of just five adults for 25-30 days they administered 1,000 mg per day. The biggest reported side effect was drowsiness. There were no severe or irreversible clinical impacts on blood pressure, heart rate, ECG, serum blood levels, or urine analysis from this massive dose.[16]
Three separate studies using high doses of melatonin also found no adverse side effects:
These studies suggest that melatonin is safe, even in high doses.
Do keep in mind that these are short-term studies. We do not recommend using such high doses except under the care and guidance of your physician.
Don’t hold your breath waiting for long-term studies on high doses of melatonin either. Who’s going to pay for such a trial when the product is an inexpensive dietary supplement that’s been around for several decades?
Mixing Melatonin and Prescription Drugs
At present there’s no compelling clinical evidence showing that 30-50 mg of melatonin will interact with prescription medications or reduce their effectiveness when taken together.
A comprehensive 2019 review of 50 studies found no reports of drug interactions.
The caveat of course is that there’s so little data about this.
Melatonin can help reduce blood pressure. So if you already have low nocturnal blood pressure you should talk with your doctor before using melatonin because your pressure may drop too low.
Don’t Talk with Your Conventional Doctor About This!
If you ask your conventional doctor about melatonin, you’re likely to get a stern warning about “self-administered” melatonin and “safety concerns” and “insufficient study of people taking daily doses of 5 mg.”
They’re only 30 years behind the times. If it was so dangerous people would’ve been harmed by now.
Plus, there’s highly compelling evidence for the use of melatonin in cancer. Go to PubMed and see for yourself.
If you’re inclined to self-experiment, you might consider trying 10 mg 30 minutes before bedtime. Add a couple mg every couple days until you reach a dose you’re comfortable with. You could take some sublingual and add some sustained-release melatonin, so you don’t wake up too early.
Or speak with your doctor about what he or she recommends.
Want More Energy and Less Disease? Pay Heed to This Part of Your Cells
This is just one of the key things learned by the loving dad of a childhood cancer patient while exploring what he could do to facilitate his son’s journey to wellness outside of the hospital setting, outside the oncology group.
It’s vitally important – especially given the metabolic model of cancer.
Plus, you’ll learn the three foods you should avoid if you want to enjoy health and wellness… the “healthy food” you should shun… several inexpensive, at-home adjunctive therapies you can start today… and the rest of Logan Duvall’s story and what’s happening with his son today.
Make this 30-minute investment in your health today. You’ll be glad you did.
Watch the video on YouTube now . Prefer audio only? Listen on Spotify now .
Sources:
[1] Waldhauser F, Kovacs J, Reiter E. Age-related changes in melatonin levels in humans and its potential consequences for sleep disorders. Exp Gerontol. 1998 Nov-Dec;33(7-8):759-72.
[2] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36235587/
[3] Seely D, Wu P, Fritz H, et al. Melatonin as adjuvant cancer care with and without chemotherapy: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials. Integr Cancer Ther. 2012 Dec;11(4):293-303.
[4] Wang YM, Jin BZ, Ai F, et al. The efficacy and safety of melatonin in concurrent chemotherapy or radiotherapy for solid tumors: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol. 2012 May;69(5):1213-20.
[5] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33776451/
[6] Bang J, Chang HW, Jung HR, et al. Melatonin attenuates clock gene cryptochrome1, which may aggravate mouse anti-type II collagen antibody-induced arthritis. Rheumatol Int. 2012 Feb;32(2):379-85.
[7] Nabatian-Asl M, Ghorbanihaghjo A, Malek Mahdavi A, et al. Effects of melatonin supplementation on serum oxidative stress markers and disease
activity in systemic lupus erythematosus patients: A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Int J Clin Pract. 2021 Jul;75(7):e14246.
[8] Adamczyk-Sowa M, Sowa P, Adamczyk J, et al. Effect of melatonin supplementation on plasma lipid hydroperoxides, homocysteine concentration and chronic fatigue syndrome in multiple sclerosis patients treated with interferons-beta and mitoxantrone. J Physiol Pharmacol. 2016 Apr;67(2):235-42.
[9] Adamczyk-Sowa M, Pierzchala K, Sowa P, et al. Influence of melatonin supplementation on serum antioxidative properties and impact of the quality of life in multiple sclerosis patients. J Physiol Pharmacol. 2014 Aug;65(4):543-50.
[10] Mozaffari S, Abdollahi M. Melatonin, a promising supplement in inflammatory bowel disease: a comprehensive review of evidences. Curr Pharm Des. 2011 Dec;17(38):4372-8.
[11] Chojnacki C, Wisniewska-Jarosinska M, Walecka-Kapica E, et al. Evaluation of melatonin effectiveness in the adjuvant treatment of ulcerative colitis. J Physiol Pharmacol. 2011 Jun;62(3):327-34.
[12] Sanchez-Barcelo EJ, Mediavilla MD, Tan DX, et al. Clinical uses of melatonin: evaluation of human trials. Curr Med Chem. 2010;17(19):2070-95.
[13] Todisco M. Effectiveness of a treatment based on melatonin in five patients with systemic sclerosis. Am J Ther. 2006 Jan-Feb;13(1):84-7.
[14] Esalatmanesh K, Loghman A, Esalatmanesh R, et al. Effects of melatonin supplementation on disease activity, oxidative stress, inflammatory, and metabolic parameters in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial. Clin Rheumatol. 2021 Sep;40(9):3591-7.
[15] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36056839/
[16] Nordlund JJ, Lerner AB. The effects of oral melatonin on skin color and on the release of pituitary hormones. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1977 Oct;45(4):768-74.
[17] Anton-Tay F, Diaz JL, Fernandez-Guardiola A. On the effect of melatonin upon human brain. Its possible therapeutic implications. Life Sci I. 1971 Aug 1;10(15):841-50.
[18] Andersen LP, Werner MU, Rosenkilde MM, et al. Pharmacokinetics of high-dose intravenous melatonin in humans. J Clin Pharmacol. 2016 Mar;56(3):324-9.
[19] Gitto E, Reiter RJ, Cordaro SP, et al. Oxidative and inflammatory parameters in respiratory distress syndrome of preterm newborns: beneficial effects of melatonin. Am J Perinatol. 2004 May;21(4): 209-16.
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