Melatonin and Viral Infections
The Association between Melatonin and Viruses
What you will learn about
I start this blog with some science. If you’re interested, dig in. If you want to get to the “what to do” step, feel free to skip down lower.
COVID- 19 attacks your respiratory system
As we know COVID-19 preferentially attacks the lungs. It’s clear that those who are most at risk are: current smokers, those who have a history of smoking, individuals with a compromised immune system, patients with other diseases such as diabetes and heart disease are all at greater risk. Those over the age of 70 are also at higher risk.
The virus can create acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and acute lung injury (ALI).
Why are children spared from serious infection?
We are all thankful for it, but why are children spared from severe illness?
And while thankfully uncommon, there have been questions as to why some younger patients, in their 20s up to 50s suffered from severe pneumonia, requiring hospitalization, as a result of the virus.
Special inflammatory agents
There is something called inflammasomes (just think “inflammation”) which are an integral part of our innate immune system. They sense pathogens, which are any type of foreign invaders, including of course viruses and defend us against them.
Sounds good, right?
The good and bad of inflammation
Unfortunately, they act as a double-edged sword because they defend us from pathogens, but they can also drive excessive inflammation, that can end up damaging our tissues.
“Collateral damage” is an easy way to think of it. The “enemy” is the virus and inflammation can destroy it. But if the inflammation gets “out of control”, damage can occur to an innocent bystander, our organs in the case of COVID-19, and primarily our lungs.
A specific inflammasome, NLRP3, has been identified as a key to the induction or initiation of acute respiratory distress syndrome due to the collateral damage scenario I just described.
The good news
Melatonin is your sleep hormone. It has long been known and certainly well discussed by me, the beautiful immune defending, anti-aging, and brain defending benefits of melatonin.
That’s generally what melatonin does. Really what we all want to know is any specifics regarding melatonin’s influence on COVID-19.
How melatonin can help defend you against COVID-19
Melatonin inhibits the inflammasome NLRP3 that can get so out of control and cause lung damage. NLRP3 has a nasty nickname: “Pandora’s Box for Sepsis” – that says it all.
Fortunately, Mother Nature gives us a tool against it – melatonin targets NLRP3 directly. In animal studies it’s been shown to transform severe heart inflammation into mild inflammation, preventing heart failure.
A 2016 study showed low doses of melatonin to prevent inflammation in aged mice.
This has been extrapolated to mean that if an individual has adequate levels of melatonin, the infectiousness of COVID-19 will be reduced and the chances of developing the life-threatening acute respiratory distress syndrome is deemed to be significantly diminished.
Children have high levels of melatonin, which is protective
It is the robust levels of melatonin in children that are believed to be the link to why they don’t suffer any severe symptoms.
Levels of melatonin in children aged 1 to 5 peak at 325 pg/ml (picograms per milliliter) at night.
Children 5 to 11 have a level of about 133 pg/ml.
Compare healthy adult seniors to children, and a young child’s melatonin level beats the adult by about ten times!
Brand new study supports the link in mice
A study just released last week (March 6th) out of China, demonstrated the use of melatonin prevented lung injury in mice on ventilators.
Pregnant women protected, here’s why
Here’s where some more proof of melatonin’s benefits comes in:
Pregnant mothers and their newborn babies infected with COVID-19 who were admitted to Zhongnan Hospital in Wuhan, China was immune to any severe symptoms. None developed severe pneumonia; none died.
Why?
Here’s why they believe the moms were protected. In the 3rd trimester of pregnancy melatonin levels are double what they are in the first trimester, leading to the protection they seemed to enjoy from the virus.
Newborns are protected for a different reason
We know that young children have the most robust levels of melatonin, but newborns younger than 3 months have very little melatonin. What then protected them?
It turns out that in addition to melatonin, the team of nitric oxide and ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) also inhibits the activation of NLRP3 inflammasomes.
Nitric oxide is protective as well
Nitric oxide produced in our nasal passages appears to be part of the defense system we have against bacterial and viral infections.
Newborns, despite their “barely developed” paranasal sinuses, have extremely high levels of nitric oxide. Gotta love Mother Nature, right?
I found it fascinating that newborns have levels of nitric oxide matching those found in healthy adults.
Vitamin C shouldn’t be forgotten
Wonderful vitamin C can inhibit NLRP3 inflammasomes as well.
The inhibition seems to be dose-dependent, meaning your want to get to “bowel tolerance” each day to ensure your tissues are fully saturated.
What’s bowel tolerance for vitamin C?
You take 1 gram(1,000 mg) every 30 minutes depending on the severity of your symptoms. If you’re in prevention mode, a gram every hour is fine. When you get loose stools you’ve reached bowel tolerance. If you’re not ill, a “gentler” gauge of imminent bowel tolerance is becoming gassy. This is presuming that you’re not typically a gassy person.
It’s a nice test of your vitamin C levels to see how much it takes to get you to the point where no more vitamin C is needed. You’ll know that amount and if your immune system starts to feel compromised you’ll know that you’ll need to exceed that level and again assess bowel tolerance.
Speed is important with vitamin C. It’s amazing how it boosts your immune system, but you need to jump on it quickly.
Do you struggle with a weak immune system?
We are in an interesting time. Many of us are self-quarantined due to where we live.
If your health is not robust, now is the perfect time to address that. Whether it’s a weakened immune system or something else, this is the best time to improve your health.
So many patients are contacting us realizing that since life has slowed, it truly is a great opportunity to take the time they haven’t been able to carve out in the past to care for themselves or a loved one.
If your level of ill health is worrying you, please reach out. We have excellent success in addressing why you may be struggling.
Root Cause is our specialty
We specialize in identifying the underlying reason why your health is non-optimal.
We have great tools to really get you the answers of not only “why”, but what can be done about it.
You deserve to enjoy great health; please give me a call if you want some help.
Contact us for a Free Consultation – Call (408) 733-0400.
If you are not local to us you can still receive help. It is the reason we created our Destination Clinic that treats patients from across the country and internationally.
We help the world’s busiest people regain, retain, and reclaim their health, energy, and resilience.
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