COVID-19: Melatonin As A Potential Adjuvant Treatment

[S.Seneff]

RuiZhangaXuebinWangaLengNiaXiaoDiaBaitaoMaaShuaiNiuaChangweiLiuaRussel J.Reiterb
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Abstract
This article summarizes the likely benefits of melatonin in the attenuation of COVID-19 based on its putative pathogenesis. The recent outbreak of COVID-19 has become a pandemic with tens of thousands of infected patients. Based on clinical features, pathology, the pathogenesis of acute respiratory disorder induced by either highly homogenous coronaviruses or other pathogens, the evidence suggests that excessive inflammation, oxidation, and an exaggerated immune response very likely contribute to COVID-19 pathology. This leads to a cytokine storm and subsequent progression to acute lung injury (ALI)/acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and often death. Melatonin, a well-known anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative molecule, is protective against ALI/ARDS caused by viral and other pathogens. Melatonin is effective in critical care patients by reducing vessel permeability, anxiety, sedation use, and improving sleeping quality, which might also be beneficial for better clinical outcomes for COVID-19 patients. Notably, melatonin has a high safety profile. There is significant data showing that melatonin limits virus-related diseases and would also likely be beneficial in COVID-19 patients. Additional experiments and clinical studies are required to confirm this speculation

 

[LLight]

Isn't Ray Peat against melatonin?
I'm not sure to remember why.

 

[RWilly]

Isn't Ray Peat against melatonin?
I'm not sure to remember why.

Maybe because it slows metabolism ... but then again, that is sort of what sleep is all about anyhow. And that is when much of our healing takes place.

RP says that melatonin goes up during hibernation and lowers body temperature. (Animals in hibernation are resistant to infection.)

Most studies show that melatonin is very good for health, and that a deficiency is related to things like dementia, T2D, mental disorders, pain, cancer, weight gain, hearing loss, immunological aging, thymus atrophy and more.

Interestingly, a vitamin A deficiency or a zinc deficiency causes a reduction in melatonin levels.

I notice that when I have too much screen time, my left eye starts to look like I have pink eye. When I put on my blue blocker glasses, my eye starts to improve. My sleep also really improves when I use those glasses. Why? Blue light stops melatonin production in the body, and blocking that blue light helps me to create more melatonin.
Too much blue light also increases the body's need for carotenoids, which in turn can cause a vitamin A deficiency, which again results in reduced melatonin.

There are also lots of good food sources for melatonin. Nutritional yeast, fungi and mushrooms have a huge amount of melatonin. Oats are a good source. Pistachios and cranberries also have a lot of melatonin.

 

[LucyL]

Aging Eyes, Infant Eyes, and Excitable Tissues
A lot of information about melatonin in this article, but this quote I think is particularly relevant to COVID treatment "Melatonin’s ability to cause vasoconstriction means that stress makes supplemental oxygen more toxic."

 

[Birdie]

Aging Eyes, Infant Eyes, and Excitable Tissues
A lot of information about melatonin in this article, but this quote I think is particularly relevant to COVID treatment "Melatonin’s ability to cause vasoconstriction means that stress makes supplemental oxygen more toxic."

This is the article that made me stop melatonin. A quote from Ray:

The popular supplements melatonin, tryptophan, fish oils, St. John's wort, and the various omega -3 oils, all increase the risk of retinal light damage and macular degeneration. Serotonin uptake inhibiting antidepressants are suspected to be able to cause it.


That said, I just ordered low dose of 0.5mg capsules. A compromise. I'd been reading of melatonin's helping with Parkinson's. And I'm working with someone who has some early symptoms, so will get him to try it.

Perhaps Ray refers to the larger doses that were being taken, I think, 10 years ago.

Thank you @S.Seneff for the abstract.

 

[Mito]

“Melatonin synthesized in the lungs acts as a barrier against SARS-CoV-2, preventing expression of genes that encode proteins in cells such as resident macrophages in the nose and pulmonary alveoli, and epithelial cells lining the alveoli, all of which are entry points for the virus. The hormone, therefore, prevents infection of these cells by the virus and inhibits the immune response so that the virus remains in the respiratory tract for a few days, eventually leaving to find another host.”

Melatonin Produced in the Lungs Prevents Infection by COVID-19 - Neuroscience News

Melatonin produced in the lungs acts as a barrier defense against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, by blocking the expression of genes that encode proteins in cells acting as viral entry points.

neurosciencenews.com

 

[Happycat]

There is a keto group on facebook with thousands of members and a lot of them take high dose melatonin, up to 250-300mg per day!
They also post lots of studies showing the benefits of melatonin, I dunno, these days there seems to be a study for everything.

 

[rhythmvortex]

Melatonin for the Early Treatment of COVID-19: A Narrative Review of Current Evidence and Possible Efficacy

To discuss the use of melatonin as an early treatment option on the first day of diagnosis for COVID-19.Medical Subject Headings terms “COVID-19” and “viral diseases” were manually searched on PubMed, and relevant articles ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[Elie]

Very strange. Without a deep thorough understanding of all the workings of any substance so much context is lacking.
On one hand, robust metabolism is necessary to fight infections, and melatonin slows down metabolism. on the other hand, it seems to block viral entry into lung cells. is it a structural thing?

 

[David PS]

Researchers in France a paper showing that high doses of melatonin blocked the coronavirus from entering the brains of mice. Melatonin also reduced swelling there. The paper has not yet been peer-reviewed. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.30.474561v1.full.pdf