WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Don\u2019t lose sleep over headlines linking melatonin to heart failure.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the message after some scary-sounding reports about a preliminary study involving the sleep-related supplement. It raised questions about the safety of long term use of melatonin for insomnia.<\/p>\n
Doctors have long known that too little or interrupted sleep raises the risk of heart disease. But heart experts say this kind of so-called observational study can\u2019t prove that melatonin use plays any role \u2014 instead of the insomnia patients were trying to treat.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should not raise the alarm and tell patients to stop taking all their melatonin,\u201d said Dr. Pratik Sandesara, an interventional cardiologist at Emory Healthcare who wasn\u2019t involved with the research.<\/p>\n
Our bodies naturally produce melatonin, a hormone that regulates our sleep cycles. Levels normally increase as it gets darker in the evening, triggering drowsiness. <\/p>\n
People may take lab-produced melatonin to help them fall asleep or to adjust for jet lag or time changes.<\/p>\n
The new study used international electronic health records, tracking adults diagnosed with insomnia who had a melatonin prescription that suggested they used the supplement for at least a year.<\/p>\n
Over five years, 4.6% of the chronic melatonin users developed heart failure compared to 2.7% of insomnia patients whose charts showed no melatonin use, the researchers found. The study is being presented at an American Heart Association meeting but hasn\u2019t undergone peer review.<\/p>\n