Originally published April 8 2005
Melatonin works as sleep aid in small doses, study confirms; but commercially available pills have too much of the supplement
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Many people are skeptical that the dietary supplement melatonin actually helps induce sleep as advertised. But a study at the Massachusetts's Institute of Technology confirms that the substance can actually be a good sleep aid – when taken in small doses. About 0.3 milligrams of melatonin will help a person fall asleep, and it also makes it easier to return to sleep after waking up.
But researchers found that, in larger amounts -- such as those offered in most commercially available pills -- the supplement works for only a few days. After a person's brain has been exposed to too much melatonin, it quickly becomes immune to the substance's restful effects, the study says.
Misuse of the hormone had led some to question its efficacy, but the latest work (published in the February issue of Sleep Medicine Reviews) could jump-start interest in the dietary supplement and help more people get a good night's sleep.
In earlier research, scientists led by Professor Richard Wurtman, principal investigator for the current study, showed that only a small dose of melatonin (about 0.3 milligrams) is necessary for a restful effect.
The researchers also found, however, that commercially available melatonin pills contain 10 times the effective amount.
And at that dose, "after a few days it stops working," said Wurtman, director of MIT's Clinical Research Center and the Cecil H. Green Distinguished Professor.
As a result of these inadvertent overdoses, "many people don't think melatonin works at all," said Wurtman, who is also affiliated with the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences.
This belief, coupled with potentially serious side effects related to high doses such as hypothermia, has earned the hormone a bad reputation in some quarters--"and something that could be very useful to a lot of people isn't," said Wurtman, who said that he and his wife have been taking melatonin every night for about a year now.
To determine conclusively whether melatonin works or not, the scientists in the current study analyzed 17 peer-reviewed scientific papers about the hormone.
"A meta-analysis essentially tells 'yes' or 'no'--that a treatment does or does not have a significant effect," Wurtman said.
Because the FDA defined the hormone as a dietary supplement, however, manufacturers were free to sell it in much higher dosages, "even though we knew they wouldn't work," Wurtman said.
"People who knew that small doses were best often bought the high-dose pills, then divided them with a knife," Wurtman said.
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