Could melatonin prevent and ease Covid-19? Clinical trials start in Spain

 

A NATURAL sleep hormone could be the key to guarding against Covid-19, halting its progress and relieving its symptoms, according to Spanish researchers – although they do not recommend, of course, that people take it unless they need it, or that they avoid social distancing believing they are immune.

Alejandro Romero Martínez, professor of toxicology at Madrid's Complutense University and one of the country's most-lauded experts in his field, says melatonin – the natural chemical which controls the sleep-wake cycle and is largely responsible for the effects of daylight and night-time darkness on circadian rhythms, or the human body-clock – has already shown itself to contribute towards preventing tumour grown and spread, and to be an effective anti-inflammatory, and may also keep some of the worst of the Coronavirus symptoms at bay.

“Its multiple benefits have led to a high number of researchers testing it in experimental modules and in clinical trials on a large range of pathologies,” reveals Romero Martínez.

“Melatonin is not a compound capable of reducing the virus levels in the human organism, nor does it act on enzymes that are involved in multiplying the virus, but it does possess multiple indirect anti-viral actions.

“Among the symptoms we have observed with Covid-19 are poor sleep quality and headaches, and this is where the benefits of melatonin could be key.”

Dr Romero Martínez, 42, from Palmeira, in Ribeira (A Coruña province), who holds a PhD in biology, says melatonin supplements may be useful with the new Coronavirus as an anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and immune system stimulator.

“As well as relieving some of the symptoms of the infection, its properties could work as a therapeutic agent – slowing down, by a little or by a lot, the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus within the body; but we'll only know how efficient it is when we get the results of clinical trials.”

Melatonin, which is often a key ingredient in over-the-counter supplements taken for insomnia or constant sleep interruptions, is also very safe, with few side-effects at high doses, meaning it could be administered to contribute towards preventing or lowering the risk of contagion – particularly in the case of medical workers, carers and anyone else who may come into contact with the virus but who has not yet caught it.

It could be that if a person being dosed with melatonin does become infected, the effects of this chemical – released naturally from the pineal gland in the brain – may put the body on alert so as to be ready to fight off the virus if it enters the organism.

“Administering melatonin in combination with other drugs might not only improve the condition of patients already infected, but could even reduce possible side-effects of the virus treatment drugs themselves,” Dr Romero says.

Clinical trials have started in several hospitals in Spain, the main one being at Madrid's La Paz University Hospital and supported by seven others.

Medical staff constantly being exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus through their jobs are being given two milligrams of melatonin to see whether it protects them.

So far, 450 healthcare workers on the front line are taking the supplement.

Results will not be known for some weeks yet, though, since Covid-19 is normally asymptomatic for the first fortnight – during which time the infected person is a carrier – and, in some cases, a person may test positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus but never develop any symptoms at all.

Many of those infected have reported symptoms similar to those of the 'flu and required no treatment other than relief from the aches and pains and fever, remaining isolated at home, although in many other cases, the condition can cause very serious side-effects ranging from blood clots to haemorrhaging, pneumonia and heart problems, some of which seem to end up being permanent, and which, in a few cases, were completely unexpected.

Being a new strain of the Coronavirus, the full scope of the SARS-CoV-2 is not yet known.