UGR Researchers Demonstrate Positive Effects of Melatonin in Preventing Obesity

The research results are also encouraging in the fight against visceral obesity, which is especially dangerous to health because fat accumulates near vital organs.

Two international studies conducted by the University of Granada confirmed that melatonin helps prevent obesity. Additionally, its effects are positive against visceral obesity—especially the worrisome fat that accumulates in the deep part of the abdomen, close to vital organs, and 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. UGR Professor Ahmad Agil is leading these studies, which were published by the prestigious scientific journals Antioxidants and Biomedicine and Pharmacotherapy.

Experiments conducted on adult obese diabetic rats of both sexes found that chronic administration of a melatonin formulation (10 mg/kg body weight/day and for 3 months) prevented obesity to a greater extent than acute treatment and reduced visceral adiposity. about 3%. It also improves obesity-induced muscle fiber atrophy, 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 reduction in weight gain in both female and male rats. .

According to this study, combining melatonin with swimming in slightly cold water, around 17°C (average sea temperature), further promotes weight loss. Scientists suggest that this method may help people with obesity.

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 light at night: due to night work, night eating, sleep disturbances , stress and lack of light. exposure to natural light, which reduces the level of endogenous melatonin.

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 wear heat on, tolerant and cool.” temperature, about 17°C, and also take a shower with fresh water.” 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. Tests are already being carried out on people and showing 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.

The research was funded by project SAF2016-79794-R from the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. Also the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Bibliographical links:

Salagre D, Raya Alvarez E, Cendan KM, Auishat S, Agil A. Melatonin improves skeletal muscle structure and oxidative phenotype by regulating mitochondrial dynamics and autophagy in diabetic fatty Zucker rats. Antioxidants. 2023, July 27; 12 (8): 1499. doi: 10.3390/antiox12081499.

Salagre D, Navarro-Alarcon M, Villalon-Mir M, Alcazar-Navarrete V, Gomez-Moreno G, Tamimi F, Aguil A. Chronic melatonin treatment reduces obesity by inducing skeletal muscle SERCA-SLN-mediated uncoupling CaMKII/AMPK/PGC1α. pathway and mitochondrial biogenesis in female and male diabetic and obese Zücker rats. Biomedicine and pharmacotherapy. 2024. 172. 11634. doi: 10.1016/j.biopha.2024.116314.

Contact:

Dr. Ahmad Agil
Department of Pharmacology
School of Medicine
University of Granada
Phone: 625 143 349
Email: aagil@ugr.es