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Federal regulators have long criticized drug products that appeal to children, such as nicotine-containing e-cigarette products with fruity and dessert flavors or edible cannabis products that are sold to look like exactly like brand name candy.
But a less expected candy-like product is sending thousands of children to America’s emergency departments in recent years: melatonin, particularly in gummy form. According to a New report from researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Use of the over-the-counter sleep supplement has skyrocketed in recent years, as have calls to poison control centers and visits to emergency departments.
Melatonin, a neurohormone that regulates the sleep-wake cycle, has become very popular for self-management of conditions such as sleep disorders and jet lag, even in children. Melatonin use in adults increased from 0.4 percent in 1999-2000 to 2.1 percent in 2017-2018. But the more people have these tempting, often candy-like, supplements at home, the greater the risk of children getting them unsupervised. In fact, the increase in use led to a 530 percent increase in calls to poison control centers and a 420 percent increase in emergency department visits for accidental melatonin ingestion in infants and children between 2009. and 2020.
And the problem continues. In the new study, researchers estimate that between 2019 and 2022, nearly 11,000 children went to the emergency department after accidentally ingesting melatonin supplements. Almost all of the cases involved a solid form of melatonin, with about 47 percent specifically identified as gummies and 49 percent listed as an unspecified sold form, which likely includes gummies. These melatonin-based emergency visits accounted for 7 percent of all emergency visits for infants and children who ingested unsupervised medications.
The candy-like appeal of melatonin products seems evident at the ages when children present to the emergency room. Most emergency department visits for unsupervised drug exposure are in infants and toddlers ages 1 to 2 years, but for melatonin-related visits, half were ages 3 to 5 years. The researchers noted that among emergency visits with documentation, about three-quarters of the visits to the melatonin products involved came out of bottles, suggesting that the toddlers managed to open the bottles themselves or that the bottles were not closed. correctly. Manufacturers are not required to use child-resistant packaging on melatonin supplements.
Fortunately, most cases had mild or no effects. Still, about 6.5 percent of cases (just over 700 children) were hospitalized for their melatonin binge. A 2022 study A study led by Michigan researchers found that among calls to poison control centers for children consuming melatonin, the symptoms reported affected the gastrointestinal, cardiovascular or central nervous system. For children receiving supervised doses of melatonin to improve sleep, known side effects include drowsiness, increased bedwetting or urination at night, headache, dizziness, and agitation.
According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health—part of the National Institutes of Health—supervised use of melatonin in children appears to be safe for short-term use. But there simply isn’t much data on its use in children, and the long-term effects of regular use or acute exposures are unknown. The NCCIH warns: “Because melatonin is a hormone, it is possible that melatonin supplements could affect hormonal development, including puberty, menstrual cycles, and overproduction of the hormone prolactin, but we don’t know for sure.”
For now, the authors of the new study say the data “highlights the continued need to educate parents and other caregivers about the importance of keeping all medications and supplements (including gummies) out of children’s reach and sight.” .