One of the problems with melatonin is that most of the studies were done on animals and not humans. Animal studies are used by the scientific community to indicate whether a substance has promise, and can yield valuable results even though they are ethically questionable.
One such study was done at the University of Texas Health Science Center where scientists were able to establish not only that walnuts contained melatonin, but that it was able to be absorbed – at least by rats. But they believe humans would also be able to absorb melatonin from walnuts. Unfortunately, they don’t know just how many walnuts you’d have to eat to get any benefits. It might require a sackful for a good night’s sleep! But using food as a source of melatonin is a good option given that it is much safer, particularly if suffering from any serious illnesses.
People who should not take melatonin supplements include children, pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, those with serious allergies and HIV and cancer patients.
Melatonin is a very powerful substance and only small doses are needed to create improvements. For example, dosages as small as 2 to 3 mg only can help people suffering from insomnia. One such sleep aid is Melatrol if you fancy giving it a go.
Overall, melatonin is very promising, and may well help people with serious illnesses like cancer and multiple sclerosis. In the meantime, increasing our dietary intake of foods like walnuts that potentially supply us with this wonderful nutrient, may have a host of protective health benefits as well as slowing down the aging process and help insomniacs.
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