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Melatonin Has Recently Surged in Popularity, According to a New Study. But Is It Safe?

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According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association this week, an increasing number of Americans have turned to melatonin to try to get some much-needed rest. Researchers used data from the 1999-2000 to 2017-2018 cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), which is a series of cross-sectional sample surveys of the U.S. population. From this data, it was interpreted that the consumption of melatonin among U.S. adults, increased “significantly” over this time.

Melatonin is a hormone naturally produced by the brain’s pineal gland. It helps govern circadian rhythm—the natural regulation of the 24-hour sleep-wake cycle. Specifically, melatonin levels rise as it gets dark outside, which helps signal to the body that it’s time to sleep soon. Melatonin supplements work similarly to the real thing and are used widely as an over-the-counter way to help people catch some z’s.

Researchers found that the weighted prevalence of melatonin use grew from 0.4% in 1999-2000 to 2.1% in 2017-2018, marking 2009-2010 as the period when the increase began. The increase was observed across all demographic groups. Researchers collected data from 55,021 adults, who were on average 47 years old. The number of participants involved in each cycle varied from 4,865 to 6,214.

The study also found that melatonin was not only being taken by more people but in higher doses, too. The prevalence of melatonin use greater than 5 milligrams per day—some older research has found that the recommended intake for melatonin to assist sleep is 0.3 milligrams, even though most of melatonin tablets sold contain at least 3 milligrams—increased from 0.08% in 2005-2006 to 0.28% in 2017-2018. This appears to be one of the major takeaways of the findings, considering the real amount of melatonin in store-bought supplements can contain 478% more than what is recorded on the package label, according to the same researchers. (The U.S. Food and Drug Administration doesn’t regulate supplements to make sure they’re safe or delivering the concentration—or even exact ingredients—that are advertised. This is why it’s always a good idea to talk to a doctor if you can before incorporating a new supplement into your daily routine.)

While the findings suggest that the consumption of melatonin has grown in the U.S., it is still considered to be on the low side. However, this growth in usage was enough for researchers to recommend that more “robust evidence” on the safety and impacts of taking melatonin in the long-run needs to be established, as very little research on the long-term use and high-dose use of melatonin is available. 

Melatonin supplements are generally considered to be safe, according to the Mayo Clinic. Many people who take it might choose it over sleep drugs as it is a hormone and is naturally produced by the body. But this doesn’t mean that consuming it in supplement form is without any risk, however small that risk may be. Potential melatonin side effects can include headache, dizziness, nausea, and daytime drowsiness, according to the Mayo Clinic. There’s also concern that melatonin can affect the immune system in a way that exacerbates autoimmune disorders, which is why some medical organizations, such as the Mayo Clinic, recommend avoiding the supplement if you have an autoimmune disease. Also, as melatonin is one of the main hormones influencing circadian rhythm, taking too much melatonin, or taking it at the wrong time, can mean you run the risk of disrupting your body’s natural physical, mental, and behavioral cycle.

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Some of the limitations of the study include a lack of reliable data on use across ethnic groups and on people below the age of 20, as well as a lack of data on the reasons people took the supplement (for example, anxiety). While the supplement containers were checked by researchers, the supplement intake in the study was self-reported, meaning participants were not monitored by the researchers in-person, and this can leave some room for error.

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Source: Self

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