Melatonin Can Be Classified as Multi Purpose Antioxidant

A lot of research has been released about melatonin over the past few years. We now know that melatonin is not just for sleep, but is important for a variety of functions including:

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According to new research on melatonin as an antioxidant, this circadian hormone may also play an important role in keeping our cells—and particularly our mitochondria—healthy and undamaged.

One review concludes "It certainly seems that #melatonin is one of the best nature's defenses against oxidative damage,".

Oxidative stress (OS) represents a threat to the chemical integrity of biomolecules including lipids, proteins, and DNA. The associated molecular damage frequently results in serious health issues, which justifies our concern about this phenomenon.

In addition to enzymatic defense mechanisms, there are compounds (usually referred to as antioxidants) that offer chemical protection against oxidative events. Among them, melatonin and its metabolites constitute a particularly efficient chemical family. They offer protection against OS as individual chemical entities through a wide variety of mechanisms including electron transfer, hydrogen transfer, radical adduct formation, and metal chelation, and by repairing biological targets. In fact, many of them including melatonin can be classified as multipurpose antioxidants. However, what seems to be unique to the melatonin's family is their collective effects. Because the members of this family are metabolically related, most of them are expected to be present in living organisms wherever melatonin is produced.

Therefore, the protection exerted by melatonin against OS may be viewed as a result of the combined antioxidant effects of the parent molecule and its metabolites. Melatonin's family is rather exceptional in this regard, offering versatile and collective antioxidant protection against OS. It certainly seems that melatonin is one of the best nature's defenses against oxidative damage.