Excerpt:
In September 2022, products formulated as gummies with “melatonin” on the label were identified in the National Institutes of Health’s Dietary Supplement Label Database, the most comprehensive database of dietary supplements sold in the US.4 The 30 unique brands entered into the database in 2021 were purchased online. Products’ labels were examined after purchase and excluded if “melatonin” did not appear on the actual label.
Gummies from the supplement products were reconstituted in methanol and an aqueous mixture of acetonitrile-methanol and then analyzed for the presence and quantity of melatonin, CBD, and serotonin using ultra high-performance liquid chromatography–photodiode array analyses (see the eAppendix in Supplement 1 for details of the laboratory methods and their validation). Screening for serotonin was performed as serotonin has previously been found as a contaminant in melatonin products.5
Of the 30 melatonin gummy brands meeting the inclusion criteria, 4 were unavailable for purchase and 1 did not contain “melatonin” on the actual label; therefore, 25 products were analyzed. One product did not contain detectable levels of melatonin but did contain 31.3 mg of CBD. In the remaining products, the quantity of melatonin ranged from 1.3 mg to 13.1 mg per serving size (Table). In products that contained melatonin, the actual quantity of melatonin ranged from 74% to 347% of the labeled quantity. Twenty-two of 25 products (88%) were inaccurately labeled, and only 3 products (12%) contained a quantity of melatonin that was within ±10% of the declared quantity. Five products declared CBD as an ingredient, and the quantity of CBD ranged from 10.6 mg to 31.3 mg per serving. The actual quantity of CBD ranged from 104% to 118% of the labeled quantity. Serotonin was not detected in any product.
Relevance:
This study finds that 22 out of 25 melatonin products were mislabeled. At this point, melatonin is considered as no damage to take. However, there is no full proof that melatonin is safe to take.
Reference:
Pieter A. Cohen, & Bharathi Avula, & Yan-Hong Wang, (2023). Quantity of Melatonin and CBD in Melatonin Gummies Sold in the US. JAMA, 329(16), 1401-1402. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2023.2296
