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| Low Melatonin Level |
Last updated: May 12, 2008 |
Signs, symptoms and indicators | Conditions that suggest it | Contributing risk factors | It can lead to... | Recommendations
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Melatonin is a hormone in the same category as estrogen and testosterone and should not automatically be used as liberally as its current availability suggests. It is manufactured from tryptophan by the pineal gland in the brain and secreted in small amounts. Melatonin plays an important role in the sleep cycle, the trigger for melatonin secretion being decreased light exposure: as sunlight exposure decreases, melatonin secretion begins. Several factors impair the production of melatonin, including light, exercise, alcohol, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
Melatonin influences the immune system and evidence is accumulating that it is a regulator of sex hormone production and useful in several male and female conditions. Melatonin deficiencies have been seen in patients with in cancer, heart disease, ulcers, Alzheimer's, and SIDS, although some of these correlations don’t appear to be particularly strong. It seems as though melatonin encourages some level of restorative function during sleep. There is moderately good evidence from controlled experiments that melatonin will increase life expectancy in some cancer patients.
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 Signs, symptoms & indicators of Low Melatonin Level: | | | | | | Supplements and Medications | Counter-indicators:
 Not being helped by melatonin |
Symptoms - Food - General |
 Night eating |
Symptoms - General |
Constant fatigue |
Symptoms - Sleep |
 Forgetting dreams |
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Conditions that suggest Low Melatonin Level: | | | | | | Hormones | Night Eating Syndrome | Melatonin levels were found to be generally lower in patients with Night Eating Syndrome. |
Low Progesterone or Estrogen Dominance| | One of melatonin's roles is the reduction of estrogen production in the body, and probably also reduction of the number of estrogen receptors. Studies have shown that the protective, estrogen-reducing effects of melatonin are significantly reduced by excessive exposure to light (including late night TV viewing) and probably electromagnetic fields, chemical pollutants such as pesticides and fungicides, and many commonly prescribed drugs, such as beta blockers for heart disease, high blood pressure and headaches. |
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Mental |
Depression
Anxiety |
Metabolic |
Insomnia |
Organ Health |
Enlarged Prostate
Prostatitis |
Tumors, Malignant |
 Endometrial Cancer| | A 1998 report found an extraordinarily strong correlation between melatonin level and endometrial cancer. Women were selected who appeared that they might have endometrial cancer. The women who in fact did not have endometrial cancer had an average melatonin level of 33. The women who had endometrial cancer had an average melatonin level of 6. There was little overlap between groups - by using melatonin levels alone, 94% of the patients could have been correctly categorized. A 1992 report proposed that decreased melatonin levels could contribute to endometrial cancer. |
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Uro-Genital |
Premenstrual Syndrome / PMDD| | Melatonin can exhibit strong effects on the reproductive system, and the activity of the female hormones estrogen and progesterone is closely tied with its regulation of the sleep-wake cycle. Abnormal biological rhythms and sleep-wake cycle disturbances are often a primary feature of periodic depression, another common characteristic of PMS. Melatonin imbalances have been specifically linked to PMS.
A study reported finding that women with PMS had an earlier decline in melatonin secretion, resulting in a shorter overall secretion time. "The data demonstrate that women with premenstrual syndrome have chronobiological abnormalities of melatonin secretion... The fact that these patients respond to treatments that affect circadian physiology, such as sleep deprivation and phototherapy, suggests that circadian abnormalities may contribute to the pathogenesis of premenstrual syndrome." [Arch Gen Psychiatr 1990;47(12): pp.1139-46] |
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Risk factors for Low Melatonin Level: | | | | | | Lab Values - Hormones | Counter-indicators:
 Having normal/having elevated melatonin levels |
Supplements and Medications |
Melatonin use |
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Low Melatonin Level can lead to: | | | | | | Risks | Cancer / Risk Reduction - General Measures| | People with higher levels of melatonin might be less likely to develop cancer, and people with lower levels seem to be more likely to develop at least some forms of cancer. At pharmacological levels (5-50mg), melatonin seems to be useful in fighting active cancers. Neither of these effects are huge - a lack of melatonin does not always cause cancer, and a large dose of melatonin does not always cure cancer. However, both effects seem large enough to be important. |
Increased Risk of Breast Cancer| | Based on questionnaires from 78,562 women participating in the Nurses' Health Study, reports that women who worked 30 or more years on the night shift, with at least three night shifts per month, had an almost 40% greater risk of developing breast cancer compared with those who worked the usual day shift.
A second study reports that nighttime bright light exposure is linked to increased breast cancer risk. It is possible that exposure to more light at night - a common phenomenon in industrialized nations - may account for increased cancer risk in women, independent of night-shift work. Another study found only a suggestion of greater risk with the brightest bedrooms, and no additional risk when turning on a light temporarily during the night. [J Natl Cancer Ins 2001;93: pp.1557-1562]
One theory is that decreased levels of the brain hormone melatonin are responsible, since this chemical is known to regulate daily sleep-wake cycles. Previous research suggests that unusually low levels of melatonin, which can be seen if humans are exposed to light during the night, may promote tumor growth. Normally, melatonin levels are highest during nighttime darkness and lowest during the daytime light.
The clinical experience of Dr. Pat Elliott, ND has been that a large proportion of young women with a close family history of breast cancer have low melatonin levels themselves. One researcher noted that for breast cancer, the decline of melatonin corresponds to growth of the cancer. This relationship is correlational, but it does suggest that there might be a causal relationship and that melatonin might fight this cancer.
To view more detail regarding breast cancer, melatonin and restrictive clothing, please go to the Breast Disease Time Line article. |
Increased Risk of Endometrial Cancer| | Decreased melatonin levels probably contribute to an increased risk of endometrial cancer. See link between Low Melatonin Levels and Endometrial Cancer. |
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Tumors, Malignant |
Endometrial Cancer| | A 1998 report found an extraordinarily strong correlation between melatonin level and endometrial cancer. Women were selected who appeared that they might have endometrial cancer. The women who in fact did not have endometrial cancer had an average melatonin level of 33. The women who had endometrial cancer had an average melatonin level of 6. There was little overlap between groups - by using melatonin levels alone, 94% of the patients could have been correctly categorized. A 1992 report proposed that decreased melatonin levels could contribute to endometrial cancer. |
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Recommendations for Low Melatonin Level: | | | | | | Environmental |  Change In Clothing Habits| | The results of a study by Japanese researchers suggest that skin pressure by clothing (girdle and bra) could markedly suppress the nocturnal elevation of salivary melatonin, which resulted in an increase of core temperature. [Chronobiol Int 2000 Nov;17(6): pp.783-93 ] This confirms another study indicating that wearing a bra for extended periods increases the risk of breast cancer - and suggests that the connection may be through a depression in melatonin.
To view more detail regarding breast cancer, melatonin and restrictive clothing, please go to the Breast Disease Time Line article. |
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Habits |
 Fluoride Reduction/Avoidance| | Work from Dr. Jennifer Luke (50-51) indicates that fluoride reaches one very important gland in the body, the pineal gland, at very much higher concentrations than 1 ppm. This small gland is almost at the geometrical center of the brain, between the two hemispheres. However, it is outside the blood brain barrier. It also has a very high supply of blood (a perfusion rate second only to the kidney) and it is a calcifying tissue, laying down crystals of calcium hydroxyapatite like the teeth and the bone. Because of these observations Luke argued that one would expect the pineal gland to concentrate fluoride. When she had the pineal gland from 11 human corpses analyzed she indeed found this to be the case. The levels of fluoride in the apatite crystals averaged about 9,000 ppm (and went as high as 21,000 ppm). The average level is as high as you would expect in the bones of someone afflicted with skeletal fluorosis. The average projected by Luke for the whole tissue was 300 ppm, well over the 1 ppm found to inhibit many enzymes.
Luke next examined the effect of dosing Mongolian gerbils (the animal of choice for studying the pineal gland) with fluoride. She found that animals fed higher doses of fluoride had a significant decrease in their excretion of melatonin metabolite in their urine. She also found that the high dose fluoride animals took a shorter time to reach puberty. This is exactly what you would expect if melatonin production was lowered. If this result is confirmed by others it would make fluoride an environmental hormone or endocrine disrupter, a topic of intense discussion (52) and review by regulatory agencies in the US and around the world.
50. Luke, J. (1994). Effects of Fluoride on the Physiology of the Pineal Gland. Caries Research, 28, 204.
51. GGVideo [Grassroots and Global Video] (1999). Fluoride, the Pineal Gland and Melatonin: An Interview with and Presentation by Dr. Jennifer Luke. Videotape, length 40 minutes. Available from GGVideo, 82 Judson Street, Canton, NY 13617. Tel: 315-379-9544. Fax: 315-379-0448. E-mail: ggvideo@northnet.org
52. Colborn, T. et al (1996). Our Stolen Future: Are We Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence, and Survival? Dutton, NY, NY. |
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Hormone |
Melatonin |
Lab Tests/Rule-Outs |
Test / Monitor Hormone levels |
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KEY | | Weak or unproven link | | | Strong or generally accepted link | | | Proven definite or direct link | | | Strongly counter-indicative | | | Very strongly or absolutely counter-indicative | | | Likely to help | | | Highly recommended |
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