Melatonin against obesity? | Science and Technology News (Amazings® / NCYT®)

A recent study delved further into the extent to which melatonin may help prevent obesity.

Two international studies led by the University of Granada (UGR) in Spain and conducted by teams led by UGR’s Diego Salagre Simon confirmed that melatonin helps prevent obesity. Additionally, its effects are positive against obesity caused by visceral fat, especially the troublesome fat that accumulates in the deep part of the abdomen, close to vital organs, which can cause serious health problems.

Scientists from the UGR Department of Pharmacology, the Federico Oloris Institute of Neurosciences of the University of Granada, the Biosanitary Institute of Granada and the University of Qatar are working on these studies.

Experiments conducted in adult obese diabetic rats of both sexes showed that chronic administration of melatonin (10 mg/kg body weight/day and for 3 months) prevents obesity to a greater extent than acute treatment and reduces visceral obesity by approximately 3 times. %. It also improves muscle fiber atrophy caused by obesity, the transformation of muscle fiber type into a more oxidative and slow-burning phenotype, and causes an increase in mitochondrial activity and content, which explains the decrease in muscle mass gain in both women and men. rats.

According to the results obtained in this line of research, combining melatonin with swimming in slightly cold water (about 17 degrees Celsius) further promotes weight loss. Scientists suggest that this method may help people with obesity.

Members of the research team. Diego Salagre Simon is first from the left. (Photo: UGR)

UGR Professor Ahmad Agil explains that “the problems of obesity, overweight and type 2 diabetes are becoming increasingly common in developed and developing countries.” This reality is a consequence of the poor adaptation of the human genome to currently existing caloric environmental factors, elements that can be modified and controlled: a sedentary lifestyle, consumption of high-calorie food and drink with constant and unrestricted access, isolation from the environment. cold, negative industrial manipulation of foods with additives such as snacks, sweeteners and flavor enhancers, and changes in circadian biological rhythms due to excessive and chronic exposure to night light: due to night work, night eating, sleep disturbances, stress and lack of exposure to natural light, which reduces endogenous melatonin levels.

Ahmad Agil recommends choosing suitable activities based on each person’s internal biological clock, day and night. “During the day, it is helpful to expose yourself to natural light, get enough physical activity, choose a low-calorie diet high in unprocessed foods and replace these supplements with thermogenic spices and herbs, avoid eating between meals, do not wear insulating clothing and keep the heating on, tolerant and cool.” temperature, about 17 degrees Celsius, as well as a fresh water shower.” At night, the expert advises sleeping in the dark, avoiding blue light-emitting devices one to two hours before bed, and fasting, which increases endogenous melatonin levels. He also advises older adults to take low doses of prescription melatonin (as their endogenous melatonin levels decline due to age) and, especially in cases of obesity, to use high (pharmacological) doses.

“Our main concern is the application of melatonin and other strategies such as intermittent fasting in the medical field, especially to consider the possibility in terms of treatment of the above-mentioned pathologies (diabetes and its complications), which involve an increase in oxidative process. mitochondrial stress, mitochondrial damage and associated meta-inflammation (low-grade inflammation of metabolic origin),” says Egil.

The results of these studies are consistent with results previously published by the same researchers over the past 13 years, demonstrating that pharmacological administration of melatonin represents another new strategy for the therapeutic approach to diabetes (central obesity and its type 2 diabetes) and its complications such as hepatic steatosis , hypertension, lipid changes, etc.

Previous results also indicate that this substance reverses obesity and improves metabolic functions by activating brown fat and darkening subcutaneous fat. Melatonin even promotes adipogenesis of beige mesenchymal stem cells in humans.

According to the results cited by the researchers, melatonin may help treat visceral obesity, necessitating the development of new clinical trials to test its effectiveness in humans. Human tests are already being carried out and show positive results.

“The encouraging results obtained in preclinical models encourage us to take melatonin to the next step to investigate how it helps maintain mitochondrial homeostasis and, more importantly, whether melatonin therapy will delay or reverse obesity and its consequences. “Complications due to the promotion of its chronic pharmacological use,” states Egil.

One of the two studies is titled, “Melatonin Improves Skeletal Muscle Structure and Oxidative Phenotype by Regulating Mitochondrial Dynamics and Autophagy in Zucker Diabetic Fat Rats.” And it was published in the academic journal Antioxidants. The other is titled “Chronic Melatonin Treatment Improves Obesity by Inducing CaMKII/AMPK/PGC1α Pathway-Mediated Skeletal Muscle SERCA-SLN Uncoupling and Mitochondrial Biogenesis in Female and Male Diabetic and Obese Zucker Rats.” And it was published in the academic journal Biomedicine and Pharmacotherapy. (Source: UGR)