Melatonin Helps Prevent Macular Degeneration

From Medical Express (June 7, 2024)

A team of medical researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and the Cleveland Clinic's Center for Ophthalmic Bioinformatics has found further evidence that regular consumption of melatonin reduces an older person's chances of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a disease that often leads to blindness.

In their study, published in the journal JAMA Ophthalmology, the group researched case histories of 200,000 older patients looking for an association between regular consumption of melatonin and the development of AMD...

In recent years, research teams have been finding that people taking melatonin supplements may be less likely to develop the condition. In 2020, one team found that the higher levels of melatonin can prevent retinal damage due to AMD.

The following year, another team found that patients with AMD tended to have lower-than-average amounts of melatonin in their blood and tears. In this new effort, the research team looked at the medical records of 200,000 older people covering the years 2008 to 2023 looking for an association.

They found that out of 121,523 patients aged 50 years or older who had no evidence of AMD, many were regular users of melatonin supplements. They also found that many patients who began taking melatonin supplements after developing AMD experienced slower degradation than patients who did not begin to take the supplements.

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