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Take a large amount of melatonin for a long time or cause infertility! What's the use of melatonin

On October 15, according to media reports, Statistics said that there were 200 million insomnia patients in China, and some insomnia patients turned to melatonin for sleep.

It is reported that melatonin has hypnotic function, but taking it in large quantities for a long time will cause hypothermia, infertility and reduce men's physiological desire. In addition, according to the data of an e-commerce platform, from January to August 2019, the number of post-90s buying imported sleep aid products accounted for 62% of the total consumption, and the consumption of melatonin products accounted for 85%.

What is melatonin?

Source of melatonin:

A hormone substance that lightens the color of skin pigment. This hormone is synthesized in the pineal gland with tryptophan as the matrix. Its chemical name is N-acetyl and 5-methoxytryptamine.

Melatonin is the first bioactive substance found in the pineal gland. When mammals are in the dark, melatonin secretion increases immediately; When it turns to a bright environment, it stops secretion. The rhythm of melatonin secretion can be measured from urine with the change of light. Other factors such as sleep, diet, mental state and stress also have a certain impact. Injection of melatonin into the hypothalamus can inhibit the secretion of gonadotropin, but it is also observed that melatonin can act directly on the pituitary. Therefore, melatonin can inhibit the secretion of gonadotropin through hypothalamus and / or pituitary. In addition, melatonin receptors have been found in the ovary, indicating that this is also the action site of melatonin.

Main uses of melatonin:

Anti aging:

Free radicals may be produced during enzymatic and non enzymatic reactions in the body. Free radicals are closely related to aging. The production and elimination of free radicals in normal organisms are in a dynamic balance. Once this balance is broken, free radicals will cause the damage of biological macromolecules such as lipids, proteins and nucleic acids, resulting in the destruction of cell structure and aging of the body. Melatonin protects cell structure, prevents DNA damage and reduces the content of peroxide by scavenging free radicals, antioxidation and inhibiting lipid peroxidation. Some scholars have found that melatonin can protect DNA damage caused by safrole (a carcinogen that damages DNA by releasing free radicals) up to 99%, and there is a dose-response relationship. Melatonin has obvious antagonistic effect on peroxidation caused by exogenous poisons (such as paraquat) and tissue damage caused by free radicals. Melatonin can also reduce the content of LPO in the brain. Its effect is basically the same in different regions of the brain, such as cerebral cortex, cerebellum, hippocampus, hypothalamus, striatum and so on. However, different strains of rats, such as Sprague dawlay and Wistar rats, have different sensitivity to melatonin.

Improve sleep:

It can shorten the wake-up time and sleep time before going to bed, improve the sleep quality, significantly reduce the number of wakes in sleep, shorten the light sleep stage, prolong the deep sleep stage, and reduce the wake-up threshold the next morning. It has strong function of adjusting time difference. It is mainly used in whitening and moisturizing cosmetics and hair products. The biological functions of melatonin, especially the health care function as a dietary supplement, have been widely studied at home and abroad. It shows that melatonin has many physiological functions, such as promoting sleep, regulating jet lag, anti-aging, regulating immunity, anti-tumor and so on. The health care function of melatonin at home and abroad involves regulating endocrine (inhibiting ovulation), protecting against encephalitis virus infection, reducing its mortality after infection, AIDS treatment and cardiovascular protection.