Lund University presented a study where a possible connection between melatonin and Type 2 diabetes is shown. The author of the study, professor Hindrik Mulder, states that according to his enquiry Type 2 diabetes is more common in people who work during night or in people with sleeping disorders.
Melatonin is a substance that controls heart rhythm. It is a hormone that can be found in animals, fungi, bacteria and plants. The substance is activated by light. Which means that melatonin levels increase while it gets dark. ‘The hormone of darkness,’ as it is currently known, is helpful in people who suffer from any kind of sleeplessness or sleep disorders.
In Mulder’s study, participants who had sleeping disorders and, as a consequence, higher levels of melatonin, showed higher risks of developing diabetes.
“A third of all people carry this specific gene variant. Our results show that the effect of melatonin is stronger in them. We believe that this explains their increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes”, said Mulder.
Melatonin treatment proven worthy
The study showed how insulin secretion, after melatonin treatment, was lower in all participants but, it was more evident in those with the genetic variation Mulder referred.
All the findings related to this study, which started in 2009, have been published in Cell Metabolism, a scientific journal, and all of them agree while establishing the link between melatonin and the development of type 2 diabetes. The gene variant to melatonin receptor 1 produces the increment of beta cells, which means that the boy becomes more sensitive to melatonin and the impairment of secreting insulin occurs.
“There is still no scientific support for this theory, but it ought to be studied in the future, on the basis of our new findings,” added Mulder.
Source: EurekAlert!