Study: Gummies contained more melatonin, CBD than advertised
- Of the 25 brands tested, 22 had different amounts of melatonin than listed
- FDA doesn’t evaluate dietary supplements for safety and effectiveness
- Doctors: Kids should only take between .5 and 1 milligram of melatonin
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(NewsNation) — People taking sleep aid gummies may be getting more than what they asked for, according to a new study.
Research published Tuesday in the journal JAMA shows a test of 25 brands of gummies revealed 22 of them were mislabeled. The actual quantity of melatonin ranged from 74% to 347% of the labeled quantity, while the actual quantity of CBD ranged from 104% to 118% of the labeled quantity.
“Given these findings, clinicians should advise parents that pediatric use of melatonin gummies may result in ingestion of unpredictable quantities of melatonin and CBD,” the researchers from the Cambridge Health Alliance and University of Mississippi wrote.
Melatonin products are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration but rather sold as over-the-counter dietary supplements. The study noted that the use of such supplements increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, and calls for pediatric melatonin ingestions jumped 530% from 2012 to 2021, according to previous research.
“Administration of as little as 0.1 mg to 0.3 mg of melatonin to young adults can increase plasma concentrations into the normal nighttime range. Consuming melatonin gummies as directed could expose children to between 40 and 130 times higher quantities of melatonin,” the researchers wrote.
Doctors are now warning parents to be cautious of use and aware of signs of melatonin overconsumption.
“Sleepiness, dizziness, headache, those are the signs from the central nervous perspective a lot of those children had vomiting,” said Dr. Bobbi Hopkins, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital.
Doctors have said that giving your kids too much melatonin is typically not too serious, but warn you should contact your health care professional if your child is showing any of these signs.
Pediatricians recommend children should only take between .5 and 1 milligram of melatonin a day, and parents should lock up their supplements away from their kids.
The study does have limitations: Only melatonin gummies were analyzed. Researchers said it is not known if the results are “generalizable” to products sold as tablets and capsules or if the quantity of melatonin within an individual brand may vary from batch to batch.
