by Dr. Michael Donaldson, PhD
Within the webinar, “Melatonin: Past the Sleep Support” Michael Donaldson up to date the viewers on analysis findings which may simply put melatonin in your “must-have” complement checklist. In spite of everything, there are few molecules which are so cheap which have a lot profit.
Donaldson identified that whereas melatonin has been offered as a sleep assist to advertise optimum sleep, we now have recognized that melatonin performs a job in most cancers for a few years; we included it in our most cancers protocol on the Oasis of Hope Hospital 20 years in the past. Randomized managed trials of melatonin with a complete of two,000 superior most cancers sufferers within the Nineties and early 2000s additionally confirmed that melatonin elevated survival time, decreased conventional most cancers remedy toxicity and gave the sufferers higher high quality of life. And it seems that they didn’t even do optimum dosing, as we will see beneath.
All of it has to do with the Warburg Impact, which Otto Warburg seen within the Nineteen Sixties in most cancers cells. As an alternative of going by way of the slower, extra environment friendly metabolic pathway of oxidative phosphorylation most cancers cells use the fermentative metabolism. Whereas Dr. Warburg didn’t know all the explanations for this shift, additional analysis has revealed that the fermentative metabolism of glucose to lactic acid is quicker and generates extra power rapidly, permits the cells to take up extra lipids (to construct membranes for fast cell development) and in addition generates quite a lot of 5-carbon sugars through the pentose phosphate pathway (to generate extra DNA and RNA for cell division and development).
Donaldson highlighted two experiments that present the impact of melatonin on the Warburg Impact. Within the first experiment mice had been implanted with human tumors. The management group had a 12-hour gentle/darkish cycle, whereas the experimental group had dim gentle at night time in addition to full gentle within the daytime. The management mice produced melatonin at the hours of darkness, however the melatonin synthesis was blunted by the dim gentle at night time within the management mice. The metabolic consequence was that the management mice shifted to regular metabolism with out the Warburg Impact at night time, however the mice uncovered to gentle at night time continued with the Warburg Impact all day and all night time. The management mice slowed down glucose, fatty acid, and DNA precursor uptake at night time, whereas mice uncovered to gentle at night time by no means slowed down in any respect, with their tumors rising a lot sooner than the management group. Mild at night time was actually most cancers selling.
Within the second experiment human tumors had been grafted into rats. The tumors had been perfused with blood with or with out melatonin in it. Once more, the rats uncovered to melatonin decreased their metabolic exercise at night time, whereas the rats with out melatonin saved on rising at breakneck pace. When a molecule which blocks the melatonin receptor was added to the rats uncovered to melatonin the impact of melatonin was additionally blocked, indicating that the consequence was particular to melatonin.
What does this all imply? Most cancers cells, particularly strong tumors, are regular about half of the time at the hours of darkness. Melatonin produced by the pineal gland will flip off the Warburg Impact and make most cancers cells change into regular throughout the night time. Additionally, gentle at night time is a disease-causing issue and needs to be averted.
In the course of the daytime it seems that standard cells produce melatonin within the mitochondria for intracellular use as a signaling molecule and antioxidant throughout the mitochondria. Most cancers cells don’t produce melatonin of their mitochondria for one cause or one other. At the moment it seems to be a chicken-and-egg conundrum. Which comes first? The most cancers or the shortage of melatonin? Melatonin and most cancers seem like fairly unique of each other.
Donaldson additionally identified that the Warburg Impact goes past simply most cancers. Analysis by Dr. Russell Reiter and his staff has proven the Warburg Impact and the reversal of different illnesses by melatonin. The checklist contains neurological illnesses like a number of sclerosis, Alzheimer’s Illness, ALS, Parkinson illness, and metabolic illnesses like diabetic kidney illness, glaucoma, pulmonary hypertension, and atherosclerosis, and infectious illnesses like septic shock, herpes, viral contaminated hepatocytes, HIV/AIDS and SARS-CoV-2 an infection. Certainly, melatonin’s impact go means past a good sleep assist. Melatonin’s results on so many illness processes could be attributable to its capability to reverse the Warburg Impact.
So, what does this imply for you? If you’re coping with most cancers, or any of those different illnesses talked about right here, you may need to think about optimizing your metabolism with melatonin. Wholesome folks below the age of fifty not uncovered to gentle at night time, and a few older wholesome folks produce melatonin reliably. Nonetheless, in case you are combating a persistent life-threatening illness, it’s secure to imagine that you just aren’t a type of lucky folks.
It seems that 10 to twenty mg at night time is greater than loads to strengthen the physique’s manufacturing of melatonin at night time. Melatonin could be very secure and doesn’t even have an LD50 as a result of it’s so non-toxic. It isn’t behavior forming or addictive and doesn’t cease the physique’s regular manufacturing of melatonin.
However what about throughout the daytime when most cancers cells are below the Warburg Impact? Dr. Donaldson identified that this analysis helps using micro-doses of melatonin throughout the day to maintain the Warburg Impact away. Utilizing a liquid melatonin, doses as little as 75 to 150 microgram could be simply achieved. This could possibly be used each 3 to 4 hours throughout the day to keep up publicity of the physique to sufficient melatonin to maintain mobile metabolism within the regular, non-fermentative mode. This could possibly be extraordinarily useful for folks coping with strong tumors and illnesses that make the most of the Warburg Impact. Melatonin is extensively accessible. You might need to hearken to the total webinar for extra particulars, or try the references included beneath for a deeper dive into the melatonin literature. That is info you could undoubtedly use right this moment. You’ll be able to entry the webinar at Melatonin: Past the Sleep Support Webinar (myhdiet.com)
References:
1. Mao L, Dauchy RT, Blask DE, Dauchy EM, Slakey LM, Brimer S, et al (2016) Melatonin suppression of cardio glycolysis (Warburg impact), survival signaling and metastasis in human leiomyosarcoma. J Pineal Res 60:167–177. doi: 10.1111/jpi.12298
2. Blask DE, Dauchy RT, Dauchy EM, Mao L, Hill SM, Greene MW, et al (2014) Mild Publicity at Night time Disrupts Host/Most cancers Circadian Regulatory Dynamics: Influence on the Warburg Impact, Lipid Signaling and Tumor Progress Prevention. PLOS ONE 9:e102776. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0102776
3. Reiter RJ, Sharma R, Rosales-Corral S (2021) Anti-Warburg Impact of Melatonin: A Proposed Mechanism to Clarify its Inhibition of A number of Ailments. Int J Mol Sci 22:. doi: 10.3390/ijms22020764
