Anti Aging and Longevity Care

Report
In 1992, the Life Extension Foundation introduced a melatonin supplement because of the broad-spectrum protective effects that this hormone had shown against age-related disease.1 Some of this research even suggested that melatonin supplementation may extend the human life span.2 Indeed, melatonin is so intricately involved in cell regulatory processes that scientists are now studying it as an adjunctive cancer treatment.3,4

These days, most people are likely to associate melatonin with a hormone that helps people sleep better or prevents jet lag.5,6 Few people realize that melatonin is a cancer-killing hormone7,8 that can enhance the human immune system,9,10 protect against the toxic side effects of chemotherapy4,11 and radiation therapy,12,13 and improve wound healing after cancer surgery.14,15 Even fewer are aware of ongoing clinical trials in which melatonin is being used to help cancer patients better manage their disease symptoms,16 improve their quality of life,17 and even increase their survival rates.4,11

Although the evidence demonstrating melatonin’s anti-cancer effects18 cannot be overstated, melatonin’s impact on cancer treatment remains largely unappreciated. This is likely because pharmaceutical companies have little to gain by advertising the anticancer efficacy of melatonin. In Europe, where melatonin is not even readily available, many clinical trials of melatonin have been conducted.19,20 US pharmaceutical companies, however, have shown little interest in even hosting, let alone funding, such critically important and potentially lifesaving clinical trials.