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Melatonin Promotes Kidney Health

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Melatonin promotes kidney health. A common symptom of my blood cancer, multiple myeloma, is kidney damage. Multiple myeloma sometimes produces tiny proteins called freelight chains that can gum up the kidneys. In my experience, if the MM patient presents with both MM as well as kidney damage, both are equally important in keeping the patient healthy.

I say this because many chemotherapy regimens have been shown to cause kidney damage themselves.

How does Melatonin Promote Kidney Health?

Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland in the brain that regulates sleep-wake cycles. While melatonin is primarily known for its role in sleep regulation, some research suggests that it may have potential benefits for kidney health.

  1. Antioxidant Properties: Melatonin is a potent antioxidant, meaning it can help neutralize harmful free radicals in the body. Oxidative stress is implicated in various kidney diseases, and antioxidants like melatonin may help protect the kidneys from damage.
  2. Anti-Inflammatory Effects: Inflammation plays a role in the development and progression of kidney diseases. Melatonin has been shown to have anti-inflammatory effects, which could be beneficial for kidney health.
  3. Blood Pressure Regulation: Melatonin may also have a role in regulating blood pressure, and maintaining healthy blood pressure is important for kidney function.
  4. Improvement in Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury: Some studies suggest that melatonin might protect the kidneys from ischemia-reperfusion injury, a type of damage that can occur when blood flow to the kidneys is temporarily interrupted and then restored.

Multiple myeloma is a difficult type of blood cancer. One of the main challenges is that MM damages other organs in the body as it grows such as the

  • kidneys,
  • bones, 
  • blood, 

etc. I’m often looking for evidence-based non-conventional therapies that may be able to help MM patients manage their incurable blood cancer. Melatonin promotes kidney health may help.

Have you been diagnosed with MM? How are your kidneys doing? Let me know- David.PeopleBeatingCancer@gmail.com

David Emerson

  • MM Survivor
  • MM Coach
  • Director PeopleBeatingCancer

Kidney protective effects of melatonin

Melatonin is a hormone produced in the pineal gland. Melatonin is produced of tryptophan and serotonin and is metabolized to 6-hydroxyl melatonin in the liver (–). Melatonin is a highly important antioxidant. Free radicals damages cells. Melatonin is an efficient neutralizer of free radicals (,).
Melatonin plays an important role in various physiological processes including the regulation of circadian and endocrine rhythms, aging, the stimulation of immune functions and the prevention of the adverse effects of antibiotics, including renal failure (–).
Melatonin reduces the oxidative induced brain, heart, kidney, and liver damage in rats. These effects of melatonin are related to scavenging of a variety of toxic oxygen and nitrogen based reactants and stimulation of antioxidative enzymes (–).
Liver and kidney are metabolically highly active in xenobiotic metabolism and excretion, they have, compared to other organs, a greater load of free radical activity and thus are more prone to oxidative damage.
Nephrotoxicity is an important side effect of contrast media, aminoglycosides, chemotherapy (–).
In vivo and in vitro melatonin has been found to protect tissues against oxidative damage generated by a variety of toxic agents and metabolic processes, including chemotherapy induced toxicity and ischemia reperfusion injury in kidney, liver and brain (–).
Melatonin has recently been found to protect against
  • Adriamycin induced nephrotoxicity,
  • aminoglycosides induced nephrotoxicity,
  • and contrast media induced nephrotoxicity.
Studies indicated that pretreatment with melatonin improves dramatically the histological and functional damage in this experimental model (–).
In summary the studies showed that melatonin administration attenuated oxidative stress, inflammation, and kidney function and structure in rats. If proven effective, melatonin would be an attractive adjunctive therapy, since it is a natural, inexpensive, widely available, orally administered and relatively safe product (–).

The role of melatonin treatment in chronic kidney disease

“The pineal hormone melatonin plays a major role in circadian sleep-wake rhythm. Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), especially those who are on hemodialysis, frequently suffer from sleep disturbances. In this review an overview is given of the classification of stages of chronic kidney disease, followed by a presentation of the circadian rhythm disorders in renal disease involving sleep disturbances in relation to melatonin deficiency.

The therapeutic benefit of melatonin treatment in sleep disorders related to chronic kidney disease including the controlled trials solving this topic, is described. Furthermore, the beneficial effect of melatonin on blood pressure alterations in CKD states and the protection of melatonin in oxidative stress and inflammation in renal disorders are explored. Finally a hypothetic model is described for the relation between circadian rhythm disorders and CKD…”

All you need to know about melatonin

“Melatonin fulfills many functions in the body, but it is mostly known for maintaining circadian rhythms. The circadian rhythm is the body’s internal clock. It tells the body when to sleep, and when to wake.

In humans, the circadian “clock” is in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) area of the brain. Using the daily pattern of light and dark, the SCN creates and maintains a regular sleep and wake cycle.

Information about light levels reaches the SCN and then passes to the pineal gland deep in the center of the brain. The pineal gland releases melatonin at night and blocks its release during daylight.

Some foods contain melatonin. It is also available as a supplement in pill or gummy form.”

 

Leave a Comment:

2 comments
Ronald Quasebarth says 9 months ago

How much melatonin? I weigh about 150 lbs and take 3mg/night.

Reply
    David Emerson says 9 months ago

    Hi Ron- the study does not specify a dose.

    David

    Reply
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