Moderate for standard-dose sleep/circadian use; insufficient for routine nightly 50mg superiority or broad antioxidant/antiviral/anticancer claims. MitoLife's specific claims of ~95% mitochondrial vs. pineal production and ~100x mitochondrial concentration are precise figures drawn from cited reviews, not independently confirmed here. Fifty mg is a supraphysiologic, pharmacologic dose; chronic nightly safety at that dose is not established.
How it works
Transform — direct free-radical scavenger and proposed support for mitochondrial electron-transport-chain function, independent of receptor signaling
Maintain — antioxidant protection of mitochondrial and cellular membranes from oxidative damage
Adapt — synchronizes peripheral cellular clock-gene expression to the light-dark cycle via melatonin receptor signaling
Regulate — well-established role in regulating the sleep-wake cycle via suprachiasmatic-nucleus receptor signaling
Adapt — mediates circadian entrainment/phase-shifting in response to changing light exposure
Form matters
The same nutrient can be made in very different forms — and a study done on one form does not automatically apply to another. Methylcobalamin is not cyanocobalamin; magnesium glycinate is not magnesium oxide; a whole-food extract is not the synthetic isolate that was studied. Two things decide whether what is in the bottle behaves like the research: the exact form, and independent lab verification (a Certificate of Analysis) that the form and dose on the label are truly what is inside. Without a COA, you are trusting a label, not the science.
On Melatonin specifically: Melatonin is dosed at wildly different amounts across products (0.3mg physiologic vs. 3-10mg pharmacologic) and even 'sustained-release' vs. 'fast-release' formulations are studied for different uses -- fast-release for sleep onset, sustained-release for staying asleep -- so form and dose both matter more than the ingredient name alone.
The science on Melatonin
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Related reading
Articles that go deeper on Melatonin.
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- FoundationYou're a Seasonal Creature Living on a Flat CalendarYour body evolved reading the sun, the moon, and the turning seasons. The modern calendar pretends every week is identical. Here is the real biology behind daily and seasonal rhythms, and how to read it through the site's deficiency-and-toxicity lens.7 min read