< previous page | page_243 | next page >
Page 243
| women with estrogen-positive breast cancer had lower nighttime melatonin levels than women who did not have breast cancer. Melatonin appears to have not only antioxidant protection against breast cancer but also an antiestrogenie effect. Melatonin also inhibits melanoma cell lines, perhaps in a similar manner, by an antiestrogen mechanism. 164 |
| Certain immune functions are stimulated by melatonin, as shown by a recent Italian study that used a combination of melatonin (40 mg per day) and IL-2 to treat people with advanced colorectal cancer. IL-2 alone did nothing at all, but the addition of melatonin with IL-2 produced a significant reduction in the proliferation of neoplastic cells.165 |
| Some people with late-stage metastatic cancer have been reported to stabilize as a result of melatonin supplementation. Remarkable results have been seen in metastatic renal cell cancer.166 In addition, recent research has shown that melatonin can prevent and suppress the severe nephrotoxicity that can be induced by treatment with Adriamycin, a commonly used chemotherapeutic drug.167 |
| Melatonin has been shown to inhibit the growth of some cancer-cell lines, including prostate cancer, either by exerting a direct cytostatic action or by decreasing the endogenous production of some tumor growth factors. A recent study involving men with metastatic prostate cancer who were on hormone therapy showed melatonin to have an anticancer effect by decreasing PSA serum levels by an average of 57 percent compared to men on hormone therapy but not taking melatonin. Melatonin was also shown to normalize platelet counts in 914 men with persistent thrombocytopenia. Melatonin appears to overcome the clinical resistance to hormone therapy, or at least delay the resistance in men with metastatic prostate cancer.168 |
| I strongly believe that cancer patients must get quality sleep if they are to get well. Benzodiazepine drugs and other sleeping medications used to treat sleep disorders do not help a person to get the deep sleep they really need. They also tend to become less and less effective the longer they are used. I think these drugs are misused and overprescribed today, especially among the elderly. Melatonin supplementation works better for the elderly than it does for middle-aged or younger people. In one study that compared melatonin to Restoril, a common sleep medication, melatonin was shown to be better tolerated and to improve the quality of sleep.169 |
< previous page | page_243 | next page >

If you like this book, buy it!