Melatonin industry asked to voluntarily tighten standards after dramatic rise in childhood ER visits | CNN
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Melatonin manufacturers asked to voluntarily improve safety standards by industry trade group after reports of 530% rise in accidental ingestions by children.

Makers of melatonin supplements have 18 to 24 months to voluntarily add child-deterrent packaging and improve cautionary language on labels of over-the-counter products, according to the Council for Responsible Nutrition, the leading trade association for the dietary supplement and functional food industry.

Melatonin is a hormone produced by the brain in response to darkness. It regulates the body’s natural sleep-wake cycle or circadian rhythm. As a dietary supplement, melatonin is not regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration, yet the demand for melatonin among both adults and children has skyrocketed over the last decade, according to experts.

The council’s action follows recent reports of a massive rise in accidental ingestions of melatonin by children and an April 2023 study that found 25 products labeled as melatonin gummies contained dangerous levels of the hormone. One over-the-counter product contained up to 347% more melatonin than listed on the label, while another contained no melatonin at all — it was entirely composed of cannabidiol or CBD.

  • KneeTitts@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    7 months ago

    i can only imagine a whole generation brought up using melatonin, white noise machines, or youtube sleeping videos are going to have massive problems getting a normal night’s sleep

    Wait till they get older and have to deal with sleep apnea on top of all that, complex apnea man here, it aint no joke. A lot of these people will not even assume they have apnea they’ll probably try to self medicate or tape their mouths shut or some other nonsense that will not work, in fact will make apnea worse. Imagine having central apnea where you brain just stops sending the signal to breathe and in order to start breathing again you need to at least partly wake up, but you have taken a massive amount of melatonin (or some other supplement or combination) to keep yourself asleep.