Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2017 Apr 7;9(4):367.
doi: 10.3390/nu9040367.

Dietary Sources and Bioactivities of Melatonin

Xiao Meng  1 , Ya Li  2 , Sha Li  3 , Yue Zhou  4 , Ren-You Gan  5 , Dong-Ping Xu  6 , Hua-Bin Li  7   8
Affiliations
Review

Dietary Sources and Bioactivities of Melatonin

Xiao Meng et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Insomnia is a serious worldwide health threat, affecting nearly one third of the general population. Melatonin has been reported to improve sleep efficiency and it was found that eating melatonin-rich foods could assist sleep. During the last decades, melatonin has been widely identified and qualified in various foods from fungi to animals and plants. Eggs and fish are higher melatonin-containing food groups in animal foods, whereas in plant foods, nuts are with the highest content of melatonin. Some kinds of mushrooms, cereals and germinated legumes or seeds are also good dietary sources of melatonin. It has been proved that the melatonin concentration in human serum could significantly increase after the consumption of melatonin containing food. Furthermore, studies show that melatonin exhibits many bioactivities, such as antioxidant activity, anti-inflammatory characteristics, boosting immunity, anticancer activity, cardiovascular protection, anti-diabetic, anti-obese, neuroprotective and anti-aging activity. This review summaries the dietary sources and bioactivities of melatonin, with special attention paid to the mechanisms of action.

Keywords: anticancer; antioxidant; bioactivity; food; mechanisms of action; melatonin.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The biosynthesis of melatonin.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Melatonin and its metabolites.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mechanisms of melatonin enhancing the sensitivities of lung cancer cells to berberine (B).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Lerner A.B., Case J.D., Takahashi Y., Lee T.H., Mori W. Isolation of melatonin, a pineal factor that lightens melanocytes. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1958;80:2587. doi: 10.1021/ja01543a060. - DOI
    1. Brown G.M., Pandi-Perumal S.R., Trakht I., Cardinali D.P. Melatonin and its relevance to jet lag. Travel Med. Infect. Dis. 2009;7:69–81. doi: 10.1016/j.tmaid.2008.09.004. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Pandi-Perumal S.R., Srinivasan V., Poeggeler B., Hardeland R., Cardinali D.P. Drug Insight: The use of melatonergic agonists for the treatment of insomnia-focus on ramelteon. Nat. Clin. Pract. Neurol. 2007;3:221–228. doi: 10.1038/ncpneuro0467. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Li R., Luo X., Li L., Peng Q., Yang Y., Zhao L., Ma M., Hou Z. The protective effects of melatonin against oxidative stress and inflammation induced by acute cadmium exposure in mice testis. Biol. Trace Elem. Res. 2016;170:152–164. doi: 10.1007/s12011-015-0449-6. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chen S.J., Huang S.H., Chen J.W., Wang K.C., Yang Y.R., Liu P.F., Lin G.J., Sytwu H.K. Melatonin enhances interleukin-10 expression and suppresses chemotaxis to inhibit inflammation in situ and reduce the severity of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Int. Immunopharmacol. 2016;31:169–177. doi: 10.1016/j.intimp.2015.12.020. - DOI - PubMed