Melatonin is nature’s sleeping pill. Melatonin is a super hormone that is produced in the pineal gland of the brain and monitors sleep cycles. It’s been found to enhance regenerative processes within the body.
In fact, melatonin is one of the greatest free radical scavengers in the body.
Melatonin is a Powerful Antioxidant
Melatonin is a very powerful antioxidant that can easily cross the cell membrane and blood brain barrier. Melatonin has been found to neutralize the most toxic oxidizing agents, hydroxyl radical and the peroxynitrite anion, generated within the cells.
A few studies of melatonin metabolites find it can neutralize up to 10 reactive oxygen or nitrogen species. This makes melatonin more effective than any other antioxidants. In animal studies melatonin exhibited superior antioxidant ability that can prevent damage to DNA by some carcinogens.
Melatonin for the Immune Function
Several studies have found that melatonin improves cytokine function. This allows for stronger immune sensitivity which leads to a better coordinated immune defense against infectious disease and most chronic inflammatory conditions. In fact, the average life span of mice has been increased by 20% with melatonin.
Melatonin for Cancer
According to a study, published in Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, Oct. 2005, melatonin increases the survival time of animals with untreated mammary tumors.
Additionally, a systematic review of unblinded clinical studies involving a total of 643 cancer patients using melatonin reported a reduced incidence of death.
Supplementing with melatonin
Since production of melatonin starts to decline at age 40, we might be melatonin deficient and can benefit from supplementation as a preventative.
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