Reduced Melatonin Levels Linked to Greater Diabetes Risk The Journal of the American Medical Association reports a link between decreased levels of melatonin and a greater risk of developing type II diabetes. Melatonin is a sleep-inducing hormone produced by the brain’s pineal gland in response to darkness.* The researchers matched 370 women who developed diabetes while enrolled in the Nurses’ Health Study with 370 non-diabetic participants. Morning urine samples obtained upon enrollment in 2000 were analyzed for the ratio of 6-sulfoxymelatonin (the major metabolite of melatonin) to creatinine in order to estimate overnight melatonin secretion. Women with diabetes had a 6-sulfatoxymelatonin to creatinine ratio that was significantly lower than that of the control group. Among those whose ratio was among the lowest of the participants, their adjusted risk of developing diabetes was more than twice that of women in the highest melatonin group. Editor’s Note: “Further research is warranted to assess if melatonin secretion is a modifiable risk factor for diabetes within the general population,” the authors of the study said. —D. Dye * JAMA. 2013 Apr 3;309(13):1388-96.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Jul 2013 12:35:25 +0000