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Melatonin improves body composition, lipid metabolism in postmenopausal women
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Postmenopausal women with osteopenia randomly assigned nightly melatonin for 12 months saw reductions in both fat mass and body fat percentage when compared with women assigned placebo, according to research in Clinical Endocrinology.
In a double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled trial, researchers also found that women assigned either 1 mg or 3 mg of melatonin had increases in adiponectin levels, with levels slightly higher in the 3 mg group.
“Melatonin is safe to use, cheap and easy to administer,” Anne Kristine Amstrup, MD, a PhD student at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark, told Endocrine Today. “Even small doses of melatonin (1 mg and 3 mg/nightly) change body composition in postmenopausal women with osteopenia, reducing fat mass by 6.9% and borderline increasing lean mass by 5.2%.”
Anne Kristine Amstrup
Amstrup and colleagues analyzed data from 81 postmenopausal white women aged 56 to 73 years who were diagnosed with osteopenia (mean age, 63 years; mean BMI, 24 kg/m²; T-score between -1 and -2.5 in the hip or spine). Participants were randomly assigned 1 mg or 3 mg melatonin or matching placebo nightly for 12 months. All participants also received daily supplementation of calcium (800 mg) and vitamin D (20 ug). All women underwent DXA scans to asses body composition at baseline and after 12 months of treatment; researchers took blood samples at baseline and after 12 months to measure plasma glucose, HbA1c, cholesterol, triglycerides, plasma leptin, plasma adiponectin and insulin resistance.
Fat mass decreased in the combined melatonin group by 6.9% following 12 months of treatment (95% CI, 1.4-12.4; P = .02) when compared with placebo; the melatonin group also had a 2.6% increase in lean mass after adjusting for BMI (95% CI, 0.1-5.0; P = .04). Adiponectin increased by 21% when compared with placebo (P = .08).
Researchers observed no differences between groups in leptin, insulin, glucose or lipid profiles.
“In addition to the already known beneficial effects of melatonin, it may also be an interesting therapeutic agent for future treatment strategies against age-related changes in body composition,” Amstrup said.
The optimal dose of melatonin in postmenopausal women still needs to be investigated, Amstrup said.
“Furthermore, the effect of melatonin must be tested on heterogeneous populations consisting of men, women, young adult or elderly, and with or without comorbidities,” Amstrup said. “The precise mechanism behind the changes in body composition must be investigated further (e.g., bone marrow biopsies).” – by Regina Schaffer
Disclosure: Amstrup reports no relevant financial disclosures.
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