Melatonin
Contents
Special Precautions of Melatonin
- Consult your doctor before using any presented information as a form of treatment.
Use alternative cancer treatments as a supplement to treatments you receive from your doctor — not as a substitute for medical care. Apply the treatment only under control of an expert.
- Melatonin is generally considered safe when used short-term and within the recommended dosages. There is no research on the long-term effects of melatonin supplements, particularly in higher doses.
- Some experts consider the doses commonly found in melatonin supplements, 3 to 5 milligrams, to be far too high and say that amounts in the range of 0.1 to 0.5 milligrams are more reasonable.
- Melatonin side effects may include drowsiness, dizziness, confusion, headache, irritability, vivid dreams, and a temporary reduction in attention and balance. People shouldn't drive or use machinery for several hours after taking melatonin. Melatonin may cause abdominal cramps, nausea, and vomiting, lower blood pressure, and rarely, hallucinations or paranoia.
- Melatonin may increase the risk of blood clotting, so it should not be used by people using warfarin (Coumadin), other medications that influence blood clotting, or by people with clotting disorders.
The benefits of Melatonin are
Melatonin is best known as the hormone that helps us sleep. It has also been proven to stimulate natural "killer cells" by enhancing Interlukin-2 production. Besides helping to increase longevity of cancer patients, they also report a better quality of life. It inhibits cancer cell growth and proliferation; it destroys cancer cells, stops angiogenesis (new tumor blood vessel growth), and prevents harmful forms of estrogen from stimulating cancer cell growth. Melatonin is a molecule synthesized in the brain by the pineal gland and in the gastrointestinal tract. Melatonin is also synthesized in other organisms including plants.
Melatonin is believed to be responsible for the synchrony of circadian rhythm, modulating sleep patterns with day and night.
Melatonin is an <a href="/Antioxidant.php">antioxidant</a> and protects tissues from oxidative damage by <a href="/free-radical.php">free radical</a> elements. Further more, melatonin induces synthesis of endigenous antioxidants such as superoxide dismtase (SOD).
Several researches indicate that melatonin protects the gastrointestinal tract from irritation, reduces stress-induced lesion formation and heals ulcer.
Below are lists containing natural plant sources of melatonin. Melatonin content is in nanogram (ng) per gram of plant sample.
Table 1: Melatonin sources ( Rieter and Tan, 2002).
| Melatonin source | Melatonin content (ng/g) |
| Huang-qin | 7,110 |
| St. John’s wort, flower | 4,390 |
| Fever few, green leaf | 2,450 |
| Fever few, gold leaf | 1,920 |
| St. John’s wort, leaf | 1,750 |
| White mustard seed | 189 |
| Black mustard seed | 129 |
| Wolf berry seed | 103 |
| Fenugreek seed | 43 |
| Sunflower seed | 29 |
| Fennel seed | 28 |
| Alfalfa seed | 16 |
| Green cardamom seed | 15 |
| Tart cherry fruit (Montmorency) | 15 |
| <a href="/Flax-seed.php">Flax seed</a> | 12 |
| Anise seed | 7 |
| Coriander seed | 7 |
| Celery seed | 7 |
| Poppy seed | 6 |
| Milk thistle seed | 2 |
| Tart cherry fruit (Balaton) | 2 |
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