Melatonin gummies may come with more than you bargained for, or none at all, new research reveals. Tests on more than two dozen melatonin gummies marketed to both kids and adults as sleep aids finds 88% were mislabeled, and some had potentially dangerous amounts of the hormone that helps regulate sleep.
Out of 25 gummy products analyzed, 22% were labeled inaccurately, with just three products containing an amount of melatonin within 10% of what the label indicates, according to study authors. And one product didn’t have any “detectable level” of melatonin at all, but it did contain 31.3 milligrams of CBD.
- In the gummies that contained melatonin, the amount actually in them ranged from 74% to 347% of what the label indicated.
- Five of the gummies included in the research included CBD as an ingredient, but the actual amount of CBD was 104% to 118% of what the label reported.
- Melatonin products aren’t approved by the FDA and are sold as dietary supplements or food.
The testing was done following a recent report showing the number of calls to U.S. Poison Control Centers about melatonin ingestions in kids increased by 530% from 2012 to 2021. "Given that the poison control centers have received more than a quarter million calls regarding pediatric ingestions, it behooves us to learn precisely what are in melatonin products and consider what might be done to decrease the risk melatonin poses to children," explains study author Dr. Pieter Cohen.
Source: Good Morning America
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