Taking melatonin can help lower the risk of cancer for some who use the sleep medicine, scientists say

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Taking melatonin could help night shift workers avoid cancer, researchers said Monday.

Researchers from North Carolina and British Columbia say the sleep supplement could be a “viable intervention strategy to reduce the burden of cancer” among that group, boosting the body’s ability to repair damage to their DNA caused by their irregular sleep cycle and disruption of the body’s circadian rhythm that regulates physical and behavioral processes.

“This trial is the first of its kind to evaluate the impact of melatonin supplements on oxidative DNA damage among night shift workers,” they wrote in a study published Monday in the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine.

Melatonin is a popular over-the-counter sleep aid used by many for a good night’s rest.

However, the supplement does not come without some unexpected risks and side effects, such headache, dizziness, nausea. It could interfere with medications, potentially i ncreasing the risk of bleeding with blood thinners. It’s also been proven to be dangerous in children, landing them in emergency rooms.

Physicians say it should not be given to healthy kids. A 2020 study found that the content of supplements varies widely. Products can have “much more melatonin than is indicated on the label.” There are also unknowns regarding long-term usage.

“Short-term use of melatonin supplements appears to be safe for most people, but information on the long-term safety of supplementing with melatonin is lacking,” the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health said.

Researchers said Monday that taking melatonin supplements could be beneficial to people who frequently work night shifts. Those individuals may be at an increased risk of cancer because of their sleep cycle (Getty Images)

Still, more than 27 percent of U.S. adults take melatonin as a sleep aid, according to a 2022 Sleep Foundation survey.

People who work at night usually have lower levels of melatonin: the hormone the brain produces in response to darkness that helps to synchronize sleep cycles. The hormone is produced in response to exposure to sunlight. Because of the lack of natural melatonin and sleep, the ability to repair DNA damage is compromised. The researchers wanted to see if taking melatonin could offset those impacts.

In their month-long trial, researchers had more than 40 participants between the ages of 18 and 50 take three milligrams of melatonin daily before their daytime sleep. Others took a placebo pill.

The participants collected data, wearing medical grade monitoring devices on their wrists and collecting their urine to see if they had higher levels of a chemical known as 8-OH-dG that is produced when cells repair DNA damage.

Ultimately, the study’s authors said they results determined people taking melatonin had 80 percent more 8-OH-dG in their urine following daytime sleep.

“These findings are consistent with our previous observational studies in which night shift workers during their day sleep and night work periods, when they had low circulating levels of melatonin, excreted significantly less 8-OH-dG in urine relative to their night sleep periods on their days off when they had much higher circulating levels of melatonin,” they wrote.

Researchers said that these findings warrant larger trials with multiple doses of melatonin.

While a 2022 survey found that more than a quarter of U.S. adults take melatonin as a sleep aid, it has been associated with some risks when taken at dangerous levels. Symptoms include dizziness and nausea (Getty Images)

“Assessing long-term efficacy is critical since those who work night shifts for many years would need to consistently consume melatonin supplements over that time frame to maximize the potential cancer prevention benefits,” they said.

A 2019 meeting from the International Agency for Research on Cancer determined that night shift work is “probably carcinogenic to humans.”

“P ositive associations have been observed between night shift work and cancers of the breast, prostate, colon, and rectum,” it said.

A more recent report from the U.S.-based National Toxicology Program said there is “high confidence” that persistent night shift work that results in circadian disruption can cause human cancer.

Over 10 million U.S. adults work night shifts, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.