Melatonin and metabolic regulation: a review (original) (raw)
* Corresponding authors
a Department of Nutrition and Food Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Granada, E-18071 Granada, Spain
E-mail: nalarcon@ugr.es, aagil@ugr.es
Fax: +34-95829577
Tel: +34-958249766
b Institute of Neurosciences, Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Granada, E-18071 Granada, Spain
c Institute of Biotechnology, Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, University of Granada, E-18071 Granada, Spain
d Service of Endocrinology, Carlos III Hospital, Madrid, Spain
e Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Abstract
Human life expectancy has increased over the past 50 years due to scientific and medical advances and higher food availability. However, overweight and obesity affect more than 50% of adults and 15% of infants and adolescents. There has also been a marked increase in the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in recent decades, which has been associated with a reduction in nocturnal pineal production of melatonin with aging and an increased risk of coronary diseases, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and death. Melatonin is currently under intensive investigation in experimental animal models of diabetes, obesity and MS at pharmacological doses (between 5 and 20 mg kg−1 body weight), demonstrating its capacity to ameliorate the total metabolic profile and its potential as an alternative to conventional drug therapies for the disorders associated with the MS, i.e. elevated systolic blood pressure, and impairment of glucose homeostasis, plasma lipid profile, inflammation, oxidative stress, and increased body weight. An especially significant finding is the induction by melatonin of white adipose tissue browning, which may be related to its effects against oxidative stress, uncoupling the mitochondrial bioenergetic process by enhancing the expression of uncoupled-protein-1 (UCP-1), which has been related to body weight reduction in experimental animals. Further research is required to improve knowledge of this mechanism. Clinical studies are needed with the administration of pharmacological melatonin doses, because the dose has ranged between 0.050 and 0.16 mg kg−1 bw in most studies to date. Melatonin is a natural phytochemical, and it is also important to test its beneficial metabolic effects when consumed in functional foods.
You have access to this article
Please wait while we load your content... Something went wrong. Try again?
Article information
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/C4FO00317A
Article type
Review Article
Submitted
11 Apr 2014
Accepted
16 Aug 2014
First published
19 Aug 2014
Download Citation
Food Funct., 2014,5, 2806-2832
Permissions
Melatonin and metabolic regulation: a review
M. Navarro-Alarcón, F. J. Ruiz-Ojeda, R. M. Blanca-Herrera, M. M. A-Serrano, D. Acuña-Castroviejo, G. Fernández-Vázquez and A. Agil,Food Funct., 2014, 5, 2806DOI: 10.1039/C4FO00317A
To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.
If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.
If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.
Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.