本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛褪黑素是大脑里松球状的腺体中隐藏的重要荷尔蒙。它在1958年被真正定义下来。研究已经证实褪黑素实际上能调节管理身体里其他荷尔蒙的分泌。这些荷尔蒙能控制我们一天身体内昼夜运作的规律，即24小时内身体每天按照一定的程序式样来运作。褪黑素的分泌能受黑暗的刺激而受光照的抑制。因此在我们睡觉和醒来的期间它能起调节的作用。褪黑素也能控制女性的生殖荷尔蒙的时间安排和分泌，影响月经周期、初潮和经闭。身体里全部的褪黑素含量水平也和身体老化的过程有关。儿童身体里含有最高含量的褪黑素，而随着成人年龄的增长，他们身体里含有的褪黑素水平会越来越低，这就意味着他们晚上睡觉时会醒来得更早，而且他们的睡眠可能是时断时续的。
保健用途
时差失调。褪黑素可以用来恢复由跨时区旅行所引起的疲累和不佳的睡眠状况
失眠症。 褪黑素能帮助那些由于身体里含有的褪黑素水平过低而引起的失眠症患者回复正常的睡眠状况较一般的睡眠式样（例如一些老年人和孩子会因为患有自闭症、癫痫症、并发症和中风而导致睡眠障碍）
癌症。褪黑素能帮助预防几种癌症，特别是与荷尔蒙有关的（举例来说，乳癌、前列腺癌）和非小细胞肺癌的人。它也大幅地增加效力而且降低一些癌的副作用（举例来说，产生于受细菌侵犯之细胞的蛋白质和内白细胞杀菌素2）。
抑郁症。褪黑素能对由于身体里含有的褪黑素水平过低而引起的抑郁症的治疗有利。低的褪黑素水平对抑郁症可能是有益（例如，季节转换引起的精神紊乱）
初步的研究证实褪黑素对多重硬化症、冠状动脉心脏病、癫痫症和更年期后骨质疏松症的治疗有利，并能避免婴儿猝死症。
食物来源
无。
其他形式
褪黑素可以以片剂、胶囊和舌下胶囊的形式使用。
建议用量
褪黑素补充剂并没有规定的药量范围。不同的人会对褪黑素的敏感程度不同。对于那些尤其敏感的病人，服用较少的剂量可能会和他们服用标准量一样有效，但如果他们服用标准或较高的量就可能会引起焦虑和易怒。
对于失眠症的治疗，睡觉前一个小时服用3毫克通常会比较有效，虽然低至0.1-0.3毫克可能会使一些人改善睡眠质量。 如果在三天之后发现每晚服用3毫克并不十分有效，请尝试在睡觉前一个小时服用6毫克。 一份对个人有效的剂量必须能为你保证安稳的睡眠和避免白天的易怒或疲累。对于时差失调的治疗，请在你到达目的地时的睡觉前一小时服用5毫克褪黑素，并坚持到五天以后。对于癌症的治疗，剂量需求是很高的（一天10 -50毫克）。如果你没有咨询过你的健康顾问，请不要长期服用褪黑素。
注意事项
现在暂时没有发现服用褪黑素的副作用，因此它的使用是不受监督的。睡眠不足和长期处于日晒状况可能会抑制你身体内褪黑素的自然生产。一些人服用褪黑素后可能会不断做梦或做噩梦，这是因为过度服用或不正确的使用褪黑素会打乱身体每天的运作规律。如果你在白天服用褪黑素会令你打瞌睡。所以，如果你在晚上服用褪黑素后第二天早上打瞌睡，请减少你的服用量。
如果你患有自身免疫紊乱症（例如狼疮或风湿性关节炎）或者免疫系统肿瘤（例如淋巴瘤和白血病），你就最好不要服用褪黑素。如果你想服用褪黑素来治疗抑郁症，请确保在你的健康顾问建议和指导下使用。在某些情况下，褪黑素实际上会加重而不是缓解抑郁症的症状。
如果你服用皮质类固醇来抗炎症或抑制免疫反应（举例来说，你做了移植手术），请你慎重地使用褪黑素，并且要在健康顾问的指导下使用。如果你正在怀孕或哺乳，褪黑素可能会影响你身体对营养的吸收利用。
与药物的关系
β- 阻隔剂（一种治疗高血压的药物）的慢性作用会减少身体里褪黑素的制造。然而，这种影响还没有被证实能影响睡眠状况（褪黑素帮助身体调节睡眠周期）。
褪黑素可能会减低血压药物的治疗效力，例如甲氧胺methoxamine（拟肾上腺素药，用于血管加压）和氯压定clonidine（一种降压药）。如果你正在服用这些药物，请在使用褪黑素之前咨询一下你的健康顾问。
非类固醇类抗炎症药物（例如 ibuprofen）会减少血液中褪黑素的含量。而褪黑素含量的减少会改变你的睡眠状况。如果你正在服用这些药物，请在使用褪黑素补充剂之前咨询一下你的健康顾问。
褪黑素补充剂可能会增加安非他明的不良副作用，如果你正在服用这种药物，请在使用褪黑素之前咨询一下你的健康顾问。
*******************************************************************************
一段时间以来，关于褪黑素保健食品的功效及对人体健康的影响等问题在媒体上炒得沸沸扬扬。昨天，上海药品不良反应监测中心在接受本报记者采访时指出，许多家长都习惯于给孩子补充含有褪黑素成分的保健食品，认为可以改善睡眠，开发智商。其实，这是完全没有必要的，相反，长期服用反而会对其脑垂体的发育产生不良影响。
青少年自身褪黑素旺盛
据了解，褪黑素又称褪黑激素、松果体素，是大脑松果体分泌的，它广泛存在于原核生物、单细胞生物、真菌、植物、无脊椎动物和脊椎动物中，并不是什么非常神奇的东西。对于褪黑素具有改善睡眠的作用，科学界的认识是肯定的。由于中老年内源性褪黑素逐渐减少，使用褪黑素可改善睡眠质量。
该中心杜文民博士告诉记者，一些家长盲目听信广告，花大价钱给孩子买来此类产品服用。其实，儿童及青少年自身分泌褪黑素就很旺盛，所以不必服用。如年满18岁，确有失眠症状，可适量试服。但切勿长期过量服用，情况有所改善后应及时停止。
同时，杜博士还指出，由于青少年正处于身体发育的关键阶段，如果长期服用，会对脑垂体产生不良影响，可能会对正常脑垂体的分泌产生抑制作用，将来体内的功能也会退化。
盲目服用会抑制性腺发育
专家介绍，我国儿童和少年随意服用含褪黑素成分保健食品的举动让专家为之担忧。国外对褪黑素的管制相当严格。以德国为例，到目前为止，因褪黑素的功效尚不确切，德国尚不允许对其作为药物进行登记。
据了解，德国还是第一个将松果体、褪黑素及生殖机能联系在一起研究的国家。早在1998 年，德国医生就发现一个男孩性早熟，同时发现这个男孩松果体生有肿瘤，正常组织已被破坏。由于褪黑素是从松果体分泌出来的，也正是由于松果体遭到毁坏，这个男孩才出现性早熟。于是这位医生第一个提出了松果体可抑制性腺发育的概念。
本埠专家说，人们还通过动物试验证明了松果体分泌的褪黑素有这方面的作用。因此褪黑素有明显抑制生殖机能的作用。儿童和少年随意服用，很可能会抑制其性腺发育。
中老年也应慎重选购
很多中老年人也把服用褪黑素作为保健的一种手段，认为在改善睡眠的同时，可以达到抗衰老的效果。对此，杜博士认为，人过了40岁以后褪黑素的量就减少了，这种减少是正常的。但是它如果下降太快或者太低，就需要抽血检查，然后适量补充褪黑素。
但是，如果长期把褪黑素作为一种保健品来服用，是不妥当的。卫生部批准的含褪黑素保健食品，保健功能仅限于改善睡眠，适宜人群为中老年人，睡前用量一般为2毫升到3毫升。杜博士告诫，如果高于这个量或长期盲目服用，可能会有一定的副作用。
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Jet Lag & Melatonin （from Jorneywoman.com)
Sharon B. Wingler is a flight attendant and the author of the newly released guide, Travel Alone and Love it. If anyone should know about dealing with jet lag, it is this much travelled woman.
I began researching melatonin because I'd heard so much about it being used to combat jet lag. My health food guru told me it is primarily used as a sleep aid. He said his store can hardly keep up with the demand for it. One customer was cured of a 15 year case of insomnia. In further reading it occurred to me that melatonin seems to be the "vitamin C" of the 90s. Some studies have shown it to offer many exciting benefits. Among them are not only help in fighting jet lag and insomnia, but also help in the fight against aging and cancer. It seems to boost the body's immune system and protects cells from free-radical damage.
What is melatonin? It is a hormone that occurs naturally in the human body. Secreted by the pineal gland in response to light, melatonin helps regulate the rhythms of our sleep and the action of other hormones. The level of melatonin in our bodies peaks in childhood and continue to decline as we age. Therefore, replacing the older body's "lost" melatonin helps us to "sleep like a baby."
Be cautious with this, as with many other supplements, as the jury is still out over long term effects. Still, as a sleep aid, it seems to me to be more natural and, safer than sleeping pills. The pills I have are sublingual (to be dissolved under the tongue) and in 2.5 milligram strength. I usually break the tablet into half dose size. I have always slept well but I do notice that I drift off to sleep a bit more quickly with melatonin, and I wake up with no groggy after-effect.
The recommended nightly dosage in combating jet lag is 5 milligrams. You should not continue this high a dosage after your jet lag passes. Definitely do not take melatonin with a sleeping pill. Read the label carefully for any possible warnings. Melatonin is not to be taken by children, teenagers, pregnant or lactating women, nor by people with certain medical conditions. It is best to ask your doctor about it.
For further information, you may read the articles in Newsweek, August 7, 1995 and Newsweek, November 6, 1995. Books include The Melatonin Miracle, by Pierpaoli and Regelson with Colman (Simon and Shuster) and Melatonin: Your Body's Natural Wonder Drug by Reiter and Robinson (Bantam Books)
Ed. note: To date, melatonin can be purchased freely in the U.S.A. but has not yet been approved by the Canadian Food and Drug. And, while it is illegal for stores to sell it in Canada, there seems to be no law against bringing it in from the States.
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Melatonin sleep remedy has little benefit
Canadian Press
TORONTO — Melatonin supplements have been hailed as a godsend by some weary shift workers, insomniacs and those with jet lag, but a new study out of the University of Alberta says they don't actually help much at all.
"It has no benefit...That's the bottom line," Dr. Terry Klassen, the lead investigator of the study, said Thursday in a telephone interview from Calgary. "That's why there's such a great need in health care to have such a rigorous and extensive look at these types of issues."
Melatonin is a hormone found in the brain, and can be reproduced synthetically or isolated from an animal. It's commonly used as a sleep aid.
But the new study, released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, concluded that the supplements ultimately have little benefit.
Although melatonin was found to help some insomniacs fall asleep more quickly, it did so with limited success.
Some patients who had "secondary sleep disorders" - including those with anxiety disorders and neurological conditions - had longer sleeps due to melatonin but the number was not enough to be considered clinically significant.
The study -- which pulled together data from more than 50 studies - also raised questions about the long-term effects of melatonin.
"We honestly don't know in humans if they took it for a year whether there may be some as-yet-undiscovered side effect or adverse event on those patients," said Klassen. "It's an unknown question."
In the mid-1990s, Canadian health food stores were instructed to halt sales of melatonin because it was considered a drug. About a year ago, however, the government re-classified it as a natural health product, meaning it was once again available.
Gerry Harrington of NDMAC, a Canadian association of non-prescription drug manufacturers, says that melatonin research is ongoing and is currently being evaluated by Health Canada.
"There is science to support melatonin having an impact on the regulation of sleep cycles," he said.
While Harrington did not have current numbers on melatonin use, he said that data from five years ago showed that two to three per cent of the population had tried the supplements at least once.
At Noah's Natural Foods in Toronto, supplements manager Mercy De Leon said customers have positive things to say about melatonin.
"We have a lot of good feedback from customers," she said. "It is popular for people who want to get more sleep."
Klassen isn't surprised that people are still looking to melatonin for a good night's rest.
"(It's) the hype, (the) personal anecdotes," he said. "In the face of unbridled enthusiasm, we have to apply the cold rational face of science to see what is the truth."
He says it's possible that some people think melatonin works because of a "mind over matter" effect while others may see an improvement in their sleeping patterns as a result of something other than the supplements.
The $230,000 US study was funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, part of the Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
保健用途
时差失调。褪黑素可以用来恢复由跨时区旅行所引起的疲累和不佳的睡眠状况
失眠症。 褪黑素能帮助那些由于身体里含有的褪黑素水平过低而引起的失眠症患者回复正常的睡眠状况较一般的睡眠式样（例如一些老年人和孩子会因为患有自闭症、癫痫症、并发症和中风而导致睡眠障碍）
癌症。褪黑素能帮助预防几种癌症，特别是与荷尔蒙有关的（举例来说，乳癌、前列腺癌）和非小细胞肺癌的人。它也大幅地增加效力而且降低一些癌的副作用（举例来说，产生于受细菌侵犯之细胞的蛋白质和内白细胞杀菌素2）。
抑郁症。褪黑素能对由于身体里含有的褪黑素水平过低而引起的抑郁症的治疗有利。低的褪黑素水平对抑郁症可能是有益（例如，季节转换引起的精神紊乱）
初步的研究证实褪黑素对多重硬化症、冠状动脉心脏病、癫痫症和更年期后骨质疏松症的治疗有利，并能避免婴儿猝死症。
食物来源
无。
其他形式
褪黑素可以以片剂、胶囊和舌下胶囊的形式使用。
建议用量
褪黑素补充剂并没有规定的药量范围。不同的人会对褪黑素的敏感程度不同。对于那些尤其敏感的病人，服用较少的剂量可能会和他们服用标准量一样有效，但如果他们服用标准或较高的量就可能会引起焦虑和易怒。
对于失眠症的治疗，睡觉前一个小时服用3毫克通常会比较有效，虽然低至0.1-0.3毫克可能会使一些人改善睡眠质量。 如果在三天之后发现每晚服用3毫克并不十分有效，请尝试在睡觉前一个小时服用6毫克。 一份对个人有效的剂量必须能为你保证安稳的睡眠和避免白天的易怒或疲累。对于时差失调的治疗，请在你到达目的地时的睡觉前一小时服用5毫克褪黑素，并坚持到五天以后。对于癌症的治疗，剂量需求是很高的（一天10 -50毫克）。如果你没有咨询过你的健康顾问，请不要长期服用褪黑素。
注意事项
现在暂时没有发现服用褪黑素的副作用，因此它的使用是不受监督的。睡眠不足和长期处于日晒状况可能会抑制你身体内褪黑素的自然生产。一些人服用褪黑素后可能会不断做梦或做噩梦，这是因为过度服用或不正确的使用褪黑素会打乱身体每天的运作规律。如果你在白天服用褪黑素会令你打瞌睡。所以，如果你在晚上服用褪黑素后第二天早上打瞌睡，请减少你的服用量。
如果你患有自身免疫紊乱症（例如狼疮或风湿性关节炎）或者免疫系统肿瘤（例如淋巴瘤和白血病），你就最好不要服用褪黑素。如果你想服用褪黑素来治疗抑郁症，请确保在你的健康顾问建议和指导下使用。在某些情况下，褪黑素实际上会加重而不是缓解抑郁症的症状。
如果你服用皮质类固醇来抗炎症或抑制免疫反应（举例来说，你做了移植手术），请你慎重地使用褪黑素，并且要在健康顾问的指导下使用。如果你正在怀孕或哺乳，褪黑素可能会影响你身体对营养的吸收利用。
与药物的关系
β- 阻隔剂（一种治疗高血压的药物）的慢性作用会减少身体里褪黑素的制造。然而，这种影响还没有被证实能影响睡眠状况（褪黑素帮助身体调节睡眠周期）。
褪黑素可能会减低血压药物的治疗效力，例如甲氧胺methoxamine（拟肾上腺素药，用于血管加压）和氯压定clonidine（一种降压药）。如果你正在服用这些药物，请在使用褪黑素之前咨询一下你的健康顾问。
非类固醇类抗炎症药物（例如 ibuprofen）会减少血液中褪黑素的含量。而褪黑素含量的减少会改变你的睡眠状况。如果你正在服用这些药物，请在使用褪黑素补充剂之前咨询一下你的健康顾问。
褪黑素补充剂可能会增加安非他明的不良副作用，如果你正在服用这种药物，请在使用褪黑素之前咨询一下你的健康顾问。
*******************************************************************************
一段时间以来，关于褪黑素保健食品的功效及对人体健康的影响等问题在媒体上炒得沸沸扬扬。昨天，上海药品不良反应监测中心在接受本报记者采访时指出，许多家长都习惯于给孩子补充含有褪黑素成分的保健食品，认为可以改善睡眠，开发智商。其实，这是完全没有必要的，相反，长期服用反而会对其脑垂体的发育产生不良影响。
青少年自身褪黑素旺盛
据了解，褪黑素又称褪黑激素、松果体素，是大脑松果体分泌的，它广泛存在于原核生物、单细胞生物、真菌、植物、无脊椎动物和脊椎动物中，并不是什么非常神奇的东西。对于褪黑素具有改善睡眠的作用，科学界的认识是肯定的。由于中老年内源性褪黑素逐渐减少，使用褪黑素可改善睡眠质量。
该中心杜文民博士告诉记者，一些家长盲目听信广告，花大价钱给孩子买来此类产品服用。其实，儿童及青少年自身分泌褪黑素就很旺盛，所以不必服用。如年满18岁，确有失眠症状，可适量试服。但切勿长期过量服用，情况有所改善后应及时停止。
同时，杜博士还指出，由于青少年正处于身体发育的关键阶段，如果长期服用，会对脑垂体产生不良影响，可能会对正常脑垂体的分泌产生抑制作用，将来体内的功能也会退化。
盲目服用会抑制性腺发育
专家介绍，我国儿童和少年随意服用含褪黑素成分保健食品的举动让专家为之担忧。国外对褪黑素的管制相当严格。以德国为例，到目前为止，因褪黑素的功效尚不确切，德国尚不允许对其作为药物进行登记。
据了解，德国还是第一个将松果体、褪黑素及生殖机能联系在一起研究的国家。早在1998 年，德国医生就发现一个男孩性早熟，同时发现这个男孩松果体生有肿瘤，正常组织已被破坏。由于褪黑素是从松果体分泌出来的，也正是由于松果体遭到毁坏，这个男孩才出现性早熟。于是这位医生第一个提出了松果体可抑制性腺发育的概念。
本埠专家说，人们还通过动物试验证明了松果体分泌的褪黑素有这方面的作用。因此褪黑素有明显抑制生殖机能的作用。儿童和少年随意服用，很可能会抑制其性腺发育。
中老年也应慎重选购
很多中老年人也把服用褪黑素作为保健的一种手段，认为在改善睡眠的同时，可以达到抗衰老的效果。对此，杜博士认为，人过了40岁以后褪黑素的量就减少了，这种减少是正常的。但是它如果下降太快或者太低，就需要抽血检查，然后适量补充褪黑素。
但是，如果长期把褪黑素作为一种保健品来服用，是不妥当的。卫生部批准的含褪黑素保健食品，保健功能仅限于改善睡眠，适宜人群为中老年人，睡前用量一般为2毫升到3毫升。杜博士告诫，如果高于这个量或长期盲目服用，可能会有一定的副作用。
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Jet Lag & Melatonin （from Jorneywoman.com)
Sharon B. Wingler is a flight attendant and the author of the newly released guide, Travel Alone and Love it. If anyone should know about dealing with jet lag, it is this much travelled woman.
I began researching melatonin because I'd heard so much about it being used to combat jet lag. My health food guru told me it is primarily used as a sleep aid. He said his store can hardly keep up with the demand for it. One customer was cured of a 15 year case of insomnia. In further reading it occurred to me that melatonin seems to be the "vitamin C" of the 90s. Some studies have shown it to offer many exciting benefits. Among them are not only help in fighting jet lag and insomnia, but also help in the fight against aging and cancer. It seems to boost the body's immune system and protects cells from free-radical damage.
What is melatonin? It is a hormone that occurs naturally in the human body. Secreted by the pineal gland in response to light, melatonin helps regulate the rhythms of our sleep and the action of other hormones. The level of melatonin in our bodies peaks in childhood and continue to decline as we age. Therefore, replacing the older body's "lost" melatonin helps us to "sleep like a baby."
Be cautious with this, as with many other supplements, as the jury is still out over long term effects. Still, as a sleep aid, it seems to me to be more natural and, safer than sleeping pills. The pills I have are sublingual (to be dissolved under the tongue) and in 2.5 milligram strength. I usually break the tablet into half dose size. I have always slept well but I do notice that I drift off to sleep a bit more quickly with melatonin, and I wake up with no groggy after-effect.
The recommended nightly dosage in combating jet lag is 5 milligrams. You should not continue this high a dosage after your jet lag passes. Definitely do not take melatonin with a sleeping pill. Read the label carefully for any possible warnings. Melatonin is not to be taken by children, teenagers, pregnant or lactating women, nor by people with certain medical conditions. It is best to ask your doctor about it.
For further information, you may read the articles in Newsweek, August 7, 1995 and Newsweek, November 6, 1995. Books include The Melatonin Miracle, by Pierpaoli and Regelson with Colman (Simon and Shuster) and Melatonin: Your Body's Natural Wonder Drug by Reiter and Robinson (Bantam Books)
Ed. note: To date, melatonin can be purchased freely in the U.S.A. but has not yet been approved by the Canadian Food and Drug. And, while it is illegal for stores to sell it in Canada, there seems to be no law against bringing it in from the States.
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Melatonin sleep remedy has little benefit
Canadian Press
TORONTO — Melatonin supplements have been hailed as a godsend by some weary shift workers, insomniacs and those with jet lag, but a new study out of the University of Alberta says they don't actually help much at all.
"It has no benefit...That's the bottom line," Dr. Terry Klassen, the lead investigator of the study, said Thursday in a telephone interview from Calgary. "That's why there's such a great need in health care to have such a rigorous and extensive look at these types of issues."
Melatonin is a hormone found in the brain, and can be reproduced synthetically or isolated from an animal. It's commonly used as a sleep aid.
But the new study, released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, concluded that the supplements ultimately have little benefit.
Although melatonin was found to help some insomniacs fall asleep more quickly, it did so with limited success.
Some patients who had "secondary sleep disorders" - including those with anxiety disorders and neurological conditions - had longer sleeps due to melatonin but the number was not enough to be considered clinically significant.
The study -- which pulled together data from more than 50 studies - also raised questions about the long-term effects of melatonin.
"We honestly don't know in humans if they took it for a year whether there may be some as-yet-undiscovered side effect or adverse event on those patients," said Klassen. "It's an unknown question."
In the mid-1990s, Canadian health food stores were instructed to halt sales of melatonin because it was considered a drug. About a year ago, however, the government re-classified it as a natural health product, meaning it was once again available.
Gerry Harrington of NDMAC, a Canadian association of non-prescription drug manufacturers, says that melatonin research is ongoing and is currently being evaluated by Health Canada.
"There is science to support melatonin having an impact on the regulation of sleep cycles," he said.
While Harrington did not have current numbers on melatonin use, he said that data from five years ago showed that two to three per cent of the population had tried the supplements at least once.
At Noah's Natural Foods in Toronto, supplements manager Mercy De Leon said customers have positive things to say about melatonin.
"We have a lot of good feedback from customers," she said. "It is popular for people who want to get more sleep."
Klassen isn't surprised that people are still looking to melatonin for a good night's rest.
"(It's) the hype, (the) personal anecdotes," he said. "In the face of unbridled enthusiasm, we have to apply the cold rational face of science to see what is the truth."
He says it's possible that some people think melatonin works because of a "mind over matter" effect while others may see an improvement in their sleeping patterns as a result of something other than the supplements.
The $230,000 US study was funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, part of the Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net