Melatonin is widely regarded as the king of sleep-support supplements. However, robust research shows that melatonin may provide benefits for other health conditions.
The practice of scientifically investigating a natural ingredient’s potential effectiveness across multiple health areas continues across the supplement industry, and such research may eventually lead to new market opportunities for ingredient suppliers and their customers. [Keep in mind that a plethora of published studies explore effects on disease states and reporting on these studies is for informational purposes only; as per US FDA regulations, statements about studies discussed here are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.]
Published research on the effects of melatonin across wide-ranging applications such as pain management, support for healthy blood pressure, metabolic and liver health, as well as antioxidant protection, highlight new potential future uses for this ingredient driven by sustained consumer demand.
Authors of one review assert, “The latest studies have found powerful antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, antiapoptotic, antiaging, and immunomodulatory actions of melatonin.”
A new study suggests melatonin supplements may help night shift workers enhance their body’s DNA repair processes, which may in turn help reduce long-term health risks associated with night shift work. Normal night-time melatonin production is often suppressed in night shift workers, which may impair the body’s ability to repair oxidative DNA damage, and increase disease risk.
In the study, 40 night-shift workers were given either 3 mg melatonin or placebo one hour prior to sleeping during the day for 4 weeks. The team measured urinary levels of 8-OHdG, a marker used to assess oxidative DNA damage and repair capacity. Higher urinary levels during sleep were interpreted as a sign of greater repair activity. Participants who took melatonin showed an 80% increase in urinary 8-OHdG levels during daytime sleep compared to placebo, suggesting that melatonin supplementation may enhance and support DNA repair.
The researchers emphasized that the study was small and of short duration, and although the findings were promising, more research is needed to further investigate this link.
Pain Reduction
In clinical studies, individuals with chronic pain from a wide range of conditions reported analgesic benefits from melatonin supplementation. Researchers also found that melatonin exerted analgesic effects in a dose-dependent manner. Melatonin’s analgesic properties appear to be independent, and involve neurotransmitters as well as melatonin receptors. In their review, researchers conclude that activating melatonin receptors “may prove to be a useful strategy to generate analgesics with a novel mechanism of action.”
Heart Health
Cardiovascular support is another potential area of benefit for melatonin, as research shows that it has significant effects on ischemia-reperfusion injury, myocardial chronic intermittent hypoxia injury, pulmonary hypertension, hypertension, valvular heart diseases, vascular diseases, and lipid metabolism.
Targeting melatonin receptors may also help protect cardiac function. During reperfusion, rats showed a reduction in infarct size as well as improved cardiac output. Researchers concluded that melatonin may induce short- and long-term cardioprotection.
Nocturnal hypertension is a risk factor for heart disease and several human studies suggest that melatonin may help regulate blood pressure during sleep. In hypertensive men, 2.5 mg melatonin nightly for three weeks reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressure during sleep by 6 mm Hg and 4 mm Hg, respectively. Additionally, day-night amplitudes in systolic and diastolic blood pressure rhythms increased by 15% and 25%, respectively. Researchers found that a single night of melatonin supplementation had no effect on blood pressure, suggesting that longer term melatonin intake is required.
A four-week study in participants with nocturnal hypertension showed similar results. Those in the 2 mg melatonin group experienced a significant reduction in nocturnal systolic blood pressure from 136+/-9 to 130+/-10 mm Hg, and diastolic blood pressure from 72+/-11 to 69+/-9 mm Hg, whereas placebo group showed no effect. The reduction in nocturnal systolic blood pressure was markedly greater in the melatonin group compared to placebo..
Hypertension is one of the five factors of metabolic syndrome (MetS). A study comparing two months of 5 mg melatonin supplementation in participants with MetS and healthy individuals reported significant improvements in systolic blood pressure, low-density lipoproteins, and antioxidant activity. The authors concluded that melatonin intake may benefit key parameters in metabolic health.
Liver Support
The liver is gaining increasing attention in the supplement industry, and consumers are becoming more aware that liver disorders can develop due to diet and other lifestyle factors and not only alcohol consumption. The liver support category is currently dominated by milk thistle (and its active ingredient silymarin).
A liver condition that is increasingly discussed is nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which is partially caused by oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation. In rats with oxidative stress and liver steatosis, high-dose melatonin lowered serum alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase levels while increasing antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase. The findings suggests that melatonin may exert hepatoprotective effects. This was further supported by a human study involving 42 participants who supplemented with 5 mg melatonin twice daily for 12 weeks and demonstrated a significant 38% reduction in aspartate aminotransferase levels.
Sleep Support
Melatonin is best-known for reducing sleep onset latency, while sustained-release melatonin additionally supports healthy duration of slumber (up to 8 hours). The melatonin market continues to dominate the sleep-support category. Mordor Intelligence valued the global melatonin market at $1.89 billion in 2025, and projects it to grow to $2.07 billion in 2026 , and $3.22 billion by 2031, representing a CAGR of 9.28%.
Melotime™ is a proprietary extended-release melatonin ingredient designed to mimic the body’s natural sleep pattern and support quality sleep. The unique release profile of Melotime™ ensures 50% release within the first hour, followed by the continuous release of melatonin up to 6 hours to maintain healthy sleep cycles, as demonstrated in a pharmacokinetic study using a 5 mg dose.
A new randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial demonstrated a once-daily dose of only 2 mg Melotime™ for 28 days helped participants aged 30 to 60 achieve the sleep they desired.
Improvements were noticeable after just one week. A significant reduction in Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) global scores was observed in the Melotime™ group from day 7 onward. Improvements in subjective psychological well-being were significant from day 14 onwards, while significant improvements in subjective sleep parameters were observed by day 28. Furthermore, compared with placebo, Melotime™ supplementation resulted in significant improvements in polysomnography-derived sleep efficiency and total sleep time, along with significant reductions in sleep onset latency and wake after sleep onset duration.
Conclusion
The future of melatonin research will likely continue to explore new health applications and further elucidate its efficacy. Currently, its most well-studied and well-established benefit is supporting improved sleep in the millions of healthy adults who want to fall asleep easily, stay asleep longer and wake feeling refreshed.
Reviewed by Sneha Sawant Desai, PhD
