Two investigations coordinated by experts from the University of Granada have revealed that melatonin can be effective in preventing obesity. These studies especially highlight its impact against visceral obesity, which is characterized by the accumulation of fat in critical areas of the abdomen close to essential organs, which entails potential health risks.
Their tests have been carried out on adult obese and diabetic rats of both sexes and indicate that long-term dosing of melatonin (10 mg/kg body weight per day for three months) not only prevents obesity more effectively than short-term treatments. duration, but also reduces visceral obesity by approximately 3%.
In addition, an improvement in muscle fiber atrophy caused by obesity, a transformation in muscle fiber type towards a more oxidative and slow phenotype, and an increase in mitochondrial activity and content were observed, which contributes to the decreased weight gain in rats of both sexes.
The study has also revealed that the combination of melatonin with baths in water at a moderately cold temperature, about 17 ° C, similar to the average temperature of the sea, intensifies weight loss. According to researchers, this combination could be beneficial for people with obesity.
The research teams include experts from the Department of Pharmacology of the University of Granada, the Federico Olóriz Institute of Neurosciences, the Biosanitary Institute of Granada and the University of Qatar. These studies, led by Professor Ahmad Agil, have been published in the renowned scientific journals Antioxidants and Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy.
New therapeutic approach to address obesity and type 2 diabetes
Professor Agil warns that the problems of obesity, overweight and type 2 diabetes are on the rise in both developed and developing countries. This phenomenon is attributed to the poor adaptation of the human genome to an environment of excess calories and other modifiable factors such as sedentary lifestyle, excessive consumption of high-calorie foods and beverages, isolation from the cold, negative industrial manipulation of food and the alteration of circadian biological rhythms due to chronic exposure to nighttime light.
Professor Agil recommends adapting daily activities to the internal biological rhythm of each person: “During the day, it is good to expose yourself to natural light, perform adequate physical activity, choose low-calorie diets loaded with unprocessed foods and replace these additives with spices and herbs. thermogenic, avoid eating between meals, do not wear insulating clothing and have the heating at a bearable and cool temperature, around 17 ºC, in addition to showering with cool water.
At night, the expert advises sleeping in the dark, avoiding using blue light emitting devices one or two hours before bedtime and fasting, which increases endogenous melatonin levels. He also advises that older people be prescribed low doses of melatonin because their endogenous melatonin levels may be reduced due to aging, and even more so if they are obese, in which case high (pharmacological) doses should be administered.
Long-term dosing of melatonin not only prevents obesity more effectively than short-term treatments, but also reduces visceral obesity by approximately 3%
“Our main challenge is the application of melatonin and other strategies, such as intermittent fasting, in the field of medicine, especially to address the possibility from a treatment perspective of the aforementioned pathologies (diabesity and its complications) that involve an increase in oxidative-mitochondrial stress, mitochondrial damage and associated metainflammation (low-grade inflammation of metabolic origin),” says Agil.
The current findings are aligned with previous research by the same group carried out over the last 13 years, demonstrating that the pharmacological administration of melatonin offers a new therapeutic approach in the treatment of obesity and type 2 diabetes and their associated complications such as hepatic steatosis and hypertension.
According to these studies, melatonin not only curbs obesity, but also improves metabolic function by activating brown fat and the browning of subcutaneous body fat. In addition, it promotes adipogenesis of beige mesenchymal stem cells in humans, opening the door to future clinical trials to validate its effectiveness in people, after observing promising results in preclinical models.
Source: University of Granada (UGR)
