70 year olds and up make very little if any melatonin. Help your parents understand. pic.twitter.com/m6YGmnW66F
— DCGreenZone (@DCGreenZone1) January 13, 2022
Melatonin synchronizes central but also peripheral oscillators (fetal adrenal gland, pancreas, liver, kidney, heart, lung, fat, gut, etc.), allowing temporal organization of biological functions through circadian rhythms (24-hour cycles) in relation to periodic environmental changes and therefore adaptation of the individual to his/her internal and external environment.
So, Melatonin helps coordinate optimal functioning of all your organs. How can I get some of this today? For more benefits, keep reading,
The physiological effects of melatonin are various and include detoxification of free radicals and antioxidant actions, bone formation and protection, reproduction, and cardiovascular, immune or body mass regulation. Also, protective and therapeutic effects of melatonin are reported, especially with regard to brain or gastrointestinal protection, psychiatric disorders, cardiovascular diseases and oncostatic effects.
Wait, you mean to tell me that melatonin helps to detox free radicals, helps with bone formation, reproduction (can't hurt any age), heart, immune function as well as regulate my body mass? Where do I get in line for this? And it has therapeutic effects on the brain and intestines? Whoa.
Melatonin or 5 methoxy-N-acetyltryptamine (Fig. 1) was discovered and isolated from bovine pineal in 1958 by Aaron Lerner. Melatonin is the main hormone secreted by the pineal gland. Extrapineal sources of melatonin were reported in the retina, bone marrow cells, platelets, skin, lymphocytes, Harderian gland, cerebellum, and especially in the gastrointestinal tract of vertebrate species [2-9]. Indeed, melatonin is present but can also be synthesized in the enterochromaffin cells; the release of gastrointestinal melatonin into the circulation seems to follow the periodicity of food intake, particularly tryptophan intake [2, 10]. It is noteworthy that the concentration of melatonin in the gastrointestinal tract surpasses blood levels by 10-100 times and there is at least 400 times more melatonin in the gastrointestinal tract than in the pineal gland [2]. Melatonin in the gastrointestinal tract of newborn and infant mammals is of maternal origin given that melatonin penetrates easily the placenta and is secreted into the mother’s milk [11-13]. It has even been suggested that melatonin is involved in the production of mekonium [2]. Melatonin in human breast milk follows a circadian rhythm in both preterm and term milk, with high levels during the night and undetectable levels during the day [14, 15]. No correlation was found between gestational age and the concentration of melatonin. It is noteworthy that bottle milk composition does not contain melatonin in powder formula. Also, human colostrum, during the first 4 or 5 days after birth, contains immune-competent cells (colostral mononuclear cells) which are able to synthesize melatonin in an autocrine manner.
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