More than 140 scientific studies suggest melatonin is a useful agent for treating SARS-CoV-2, according to research published in Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences.1 Despite this, and its known antiviral and anti-inflammatory effects, melatonin has received little attention as a countermeasure for COVID-19.
After reviewing the published literature related to melatonin and SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 in November 2021, the research team found melatonin was most often researched for its ability to suppress inflammation and the cytokine storm related to COVID-19.2 Use of melatonin as a treatment for people infected with SARS-CoV-2 was another common theme.
Overall, the data provide the rationale that melatonin could be used as a prophylactic agent against COVID-19 as well as a tool for treatment. When people with COVID-19 were given melatonin, either alone or in combination with other treatments, severity of infection was reduced, death rate was lowered and hospitalizations were shortened.
“Melatonin’s ability to arrest SARS-CoV-2 infections may reduce health care exhaustion by limiting the need for hospitalization,” the researchers noted, adding that it’s also safe — “melatonin has a high safety profile over a wide range of doses and lacks significant toxicity.”3
One reason why melatonin works as an anti-COVID-19 agent is due to its role against sepsis (blood poisoning). The researchers explained:4
“While SARS-CoV-2 infections are generally thought of as a pulmonary issue, the consequences of this infection transcend the respiratory system. Ultimately, this disease becomes systemic with the development of severe sepsis or septic shock leading to multiple organ failure which is the condition that commonly leads to death of SARS-CoV-2-infected patients.”
Sepsis is a life-threatening condition triggered by a systemic infection that causes your body to overreact and launch an excessive and highly damaging immune response. Melatonin has prevented death in newborns suffering from severe bacterial sepsis5 and also appears to reverse septic shock symptoms by:6
