22 Out of 25 Melatonin Products Were Mislabeled, Study Finds
A tiny, berry-flavored gummy of melatonin carries a big promise: better sleep. But a new research paper, published in the medical journal JAMA on Tuesday, highlights a critical issue: When it comes to melatonin, as with other supplements, what you see on the label isn’t always what you get.
A team of researchers analyzed 25 melatonin gummy products from different brands and found that 22 contained different amounts of melatonin than what was listed on their labels; one contained only 74 percent of the advertised amount of melatonin, while another had 347 percent of the labeled amount. Yet another product contained no detectable melatonin at all.
Researchers tested gummies from only a single bottle of each product, so it’s possible that the amount of melatonin varied from batch to batch. But the findings point to a staggering discrepancy between the amount of melatonin consumers think they’re ingesting and how much they might actually take, said Dr. Pieter Cohen, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and the lead author of the paper.
“You are at the mercy of the dietary supplement industry,” Dr. Cohen said.
The Food and Drug Administration does not evaluate dietary supplements for their safety and effectiveness. “Protecting the health and safety of Americans is the F.D.A.’s highest priority, and we will remain vigilant in warning consumers when public health concerns arise related to dietary supplement products,” a representative for the agency said in a statement.
Source: The New York Times
