Melatonin Overdoses Are Spiking In Young Kids

More adults are using melatonin to get to sleep at night. Unfortunately, that means more young children are finding their parents’ tablets and gummies and taking them by accident. A new analysis in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, which is published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, finds that melatonin was responsible for a surprisingly large share of emergency-department visits—7%—among infants and young kids who accidentally ingested a medication from 2019 to 2022. During that time span, melatonin caused about 11,000 such incidents. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Past research shows that from 2009 to 2020, emergency department visits of this type spiked by 420% among this age group. In 2022, other research found a 530% increase in accidental melatonin poisonings from 2012 to 2021 among people 19 years old and younger. Melatonin, a naturally occurring hormone, helps regulate the body’s circadian cycle and is sold as tablets and gummies. In the new analysis, 47% of the kids who went to emergency departments had ingested candy-like melatonin gummies, and about half of all visits were caused by a flavored product. Alarmingly, in nearly 36% of the cases, children had swallowed ten or more gummies or tablets. Fortunately, most cases overall—about 94%—did not result in hospitalization. The risk of accidental ingestion is made greater not just by the availability of candy-like formulatio...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized medicine Source Type: news