” and is often taken as a so-called food supplement without a doctor’s prescription by people with sleep problems. However, this study shows that people should be careful about taking hormone supplements and that the ingestion of melatonin supplements can have adverse effects on health.
. These disorders are immune-mediated, resulting from abnormal activity of the immune cells in overreacting to a pathogen, with destructive effects on the gut microbiome and severe clinical symptoms, such as abdominal pain, constant diarrhea, bleeding, and fatigue (
).
Treatment entails suppressing or inhibiting the immune response to reduce the excessive inflammation that damages the intestine. Besides corticosteroids and immunosuppressants, treatment may involve immunobiological medications, which are more effective for moderate and severe cases but unaffordable for most patients.
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Besides the problem of affordability, many patients do not respond well even to the most advanced treatments and must undergo surgery for the removal of parts of the intestine. These invasive procedures have a highly negative effect on their quality of life.
Melatonin can indeed act as an antioxidant and improve several physiological or pathological conditions. The study involved an experiment in which colitis was induced in mice, and they were treated with melatonin.
Their condition became worse instead of improving. The animals’ bowel inflammation became much, much worse. Later, they found that melatonin had a positive effect on the disease if the effect on gut microbiota was ignored and the mice were treated with wide-spectrum antibiotics to eliminate all the bacteria (2✔ ✔Trusted Source
The Microbiota-Dependent Worsening Effects of Melatonin on Gut Inflammation.
Go to source).
The negative effect of melatonin, therefore, depends on the bacteria that live in the intestine and are also associated with inflammatory diseases of the region. Certain features of gut microbiota increase inflammation and dysregulate the immune system in response to treatment with melatonin, damaging the digestive system.
These findings highlight that people should take great care with medications, hormone supplements, or hormones offered as food supplements.
References:
- Melatonin in the colon modulates intestinal microbiota in response to stress and sleep deprivation – (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7385569/)
- The Microbiota-Dependent Worsening Effects of Melatonin on Gut Inflammation – (https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/11/2/460)
Source: Eurekalert
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