A 2012 meta-analysis of 8 small trials found melatonin added to cancer treatment was linked to about twice the tumor response. The trials were small and mostly unblinded.
The meta-analysis pooled 8 randomized trials with 761 patients, all with solid tumors. Tumor response rose from 16.5% to 32.6% and one-year survival from 28.4% to 52.2%.
The trials were small and mostly unblinded, and later blinded trials did not confirm the benefit.
What if I told you that one of the most common over-the-counter sleep remedies has been looked at in randomized controlled cancer trials, and the survival evidence is remarkable?
Most people think of melatonin as something you take to help you sleep, but researchers looking at eight randomized controlled trials involving 761 patients in advanced solid tumors found it to be life-saving. The researchers looked at high-dose melatonin, 20 milligrams a day, as an adjunct to conventional chemotherapy.
And listen to this. This is amazing. In one year, 52.2% of the patients taking the melatonin plus conventional treatment were alive, versus only 28% of those taking conventional treatment alone. That's 24 additional lives saved per 100 people treated with melatonin.
Tumor remission was also substantially higher, 32.6% with melatonin versus 16.5% without it. And the melatonin groups experienced substantially less thrombocytopenia, neurotoxicity, and fatigue from their cancer care.
Now, these are older studies, and they should be repeated with modern cancer treatment. But eight randomized human trials, with 24 people saved per 100 people treated, with a supplement that's over-the-counter at pennies per pill? That's evidence worth knowing about.
Here's the research. You decide.
Educational research summary, not medical advice. Talk with your oncologist and pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any treatment or supplement.