Poisoning concerns mount over this common supplement

After a popular online health retailer stopped selling the supplement in Australia, the extent of melatonin misuse has been revealed.

Words by Sarah Mitchell for BodyandSoul.com.au.

Melatonin is only approved for use in Australia as a pharmacist-only medicine for treating short-term insomnia for adults over 55, or jet lag in adults, according to a TGA spokesperson.

It’s only approved for children as a prescription medicine in “limited circumstances”.

But some people have purchased the supplement from international retailers online to avoid getting a script from a healthcare professional, or to access them for their children, although it isn’t approved as a prescription medicine for children except in “limited circumstances”, due to insufficient evidence about its safety and effectiveness in young people.

These products aren’t evaluated by the TGA for safety, quality or concentration,  so there are obviously risks involved there, but buying prescription-only medications without a prescription raises concern over misuse, and data shows just how concerned we should be.

Concerns of melatonin misuse in children

According to the ABC, Australian poisons hotlines received a record number of calls last year regarding melatonin use.

Nationwide, there were more than double the calls made in 2019, with 1478 regarding concerns for children aged 14 and under being potentially exposed to the hormone.

In New South Wales, the ACT and Tasmania, close to half of all calls regarding melatonin use were relating to children.

Risks of overuse

Reasons for calls included:

• Adverse reactions
• Wrong dosages
• Children accidentally accessing medication that was not prescribed for them

Even though the hormone is naturally produced in the body, as with all supplements and medications, it comes with risks.

Melatonin can interact with other medications, and overdoses can cause headaches, low or high blood pressure, drowsiness or vomiting, according to Health Direct.

And while there haven’t been reported deaths of young children relating to melatonin use in Australia yet, as we’ve seen in the US, Royal Australian College of General Practitioners’ (RACGP) Specific Interests Child and Young Person’s Health Chair, Dr Tim Jones, said, “I think that’s only due to luck”.

“It’s not something that you should be treating like a nutritional supplement, it’s more complex than that”, he added.

Normalise kids’ sleep problems again

Children having sleep struggles isn’t anything new. All children (and adults) experiencing sleep issues or insomnia don’t necessarily need a supplement.

There are countless strategies and sleep hygiene practices to improve rest that should be trialled, Jones said.

“What we know is that if we’ve got those in place, kids don’t just start sleeping well for a bit. This sets them up for good sleep for life, whereas if we’re medicating for sleep, and that’s our only strategy, we do have concerns that kids aren’t going to get great long-term outcomes out of that”.

This article first appeared in bodyandsoul.com.au as Poisoning concerns mount over this common supplement.