New study finds deficiency in sleep hormone melatonin may be linked to prostate cancer.

But experts say it's too early for men to start taking melatonin to prevent the disease, according to Pannochka, an online publication for girls and women aged 14 to 35.. net Study of 928 Icelandic men suggests that men with higher levels of melatonin have a lower risk of prostate cancer.

This was told by Sarah Markt, an employee of the department of epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health..

“Men with higher levels of melatonin have a 75% lower risk of developing prostate cancer. The risk was especially low if it was in the advanced stages of the disease,"

Melatonin is thought to be linked to our body's circadian rhythms, though Markt says it's not necessarily produced during sleep.. The hormone is synthesized by the pineal gland (pineal gland) at night and serves as a biochemical signal of darkness..

The researcher became interested in the potential link between melatonin levels and prostate cancer risk because many other scientific papers have suggested a link between low melatonin and various health problems, including cancer..

“In animal experiments and in vitro studies with prostate cancer cell lines, melatonin has been proven to inhibit the growth of tumor cells,” said Markt..

She and her colleagues analyzed data from the Icelandic Men's Health Study conducted in 2002-2009.. Scientists measured participants' melatonin levels from urine tests, trying to correlate these data with prostate cancer statistics.. The men also filled out questionnaires in which they described their sleep patterns..

One in seven men in the study reported trouble falling asleep, one in five had nocturnal awakenings, and almost one in three admitted to occasionally using sleeping pills.. In men with such problems, the level of 6-sulfatoxymelatonin, a breakdown product of melatonin, was significantly reduced..

111 men were eventually diagnosed with prostate cancer, including 24 cases of advanced disease. Although the study found a relationship between melatonin levels and prostate cancer risk, it did not prove a causal relationship.. Experts note that other factors may be involved as well..

June Chan, professor of epidemiology, biostatistics and urology at the University of California San Francisco, who was not directly involved in the study, said the results are very interesting and should be tested in future work..

“The link between melatonin and cancer has been observed in cases with other types of cancer,” said the professor, adding that similar reports on breast cancer date back as far as the 1970s.. She added that other potential factors that go hand in hand with a melatonin deficiency need to be ruled out – exercise, vitamin D levels, etc..

Dr. Stephen Freedland, an expert in urology and pathology at Duke University, says the concept of the study is appropriate, but the result could have been influenced by the fact that all the men lived in Iceland, a cold region with little sunlight..

“They spend almost six months of the year without sunlight.. What does it give us? This is essentially data suggesting that light is beneficial in preventing prostate cancer,” Freedland said..

The authors agree that their results are not conclusive and further research is needed.. Since the study was presented at a medical meeting, its data and conclusions will be considered preliminary before publication in a scientific journal..

medbe. en.