Hormonal
Melatonin supplementation reduces body weight and visceral fat deposition in aging animals by increasing energy expenditure through brown adipose tissue activation and white adipose tissue browning, independent of changes in food intake.
While melatonin is widely known for sleep, this review suggests it may also support weight management in aging individuals by boosting energy expenditure and reducing visceral fat, likely through its effect on brown fat. This effect appears independent of calorie restriction. For humans, maintaining natural melatonin production by avoiding night light might be as important as supplementation.
The reduced body weight, already apparent within 2 weeks, persisted throughout the study period (14 weeks) and disappeared with the interruption of melatonin administration. It is important to stress that the body weight and abdominal visceral fat reductions were not dependent on either the decreased food intake or on alteration... of any other hormones... This study also demonstrated that, in addition to an increase in the nocturnal locomotor activity by 19%... the treated rats showed an increase in the core body temperature, indicating a putative rise in energy expenditure rather than a reduction in the energy intake.
Why this rating
The paper is a review summarizing animal studies (rats); human applicability is suggested but not directly proven in a clinical trial within this text.
Source
Melatonin, energy metabolism, and obesity: a review
José Cipolla‐Neto et al. · Journal of Pineal Research · 2014
DOI 10.1111/jpi.12137
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