God has given each one of us an incredible self-healing body. At Hallelujah Diet, we believe in supporting our health by nourishing it with a clean, whole foods plant-based diet, fresh air, sunshine, pure water, restorative sleep, and natural dietary supplements, like melatonin, when needed.
Melatonin, which is a hormone our bodies produce naturally to regulate sleep and wake cycles and the circadian rhythm, has been used for a long time to help people fall asleep, for its antioxidant effects, and benefits for metabolic health. Benefits that I pointed out previously in a webinar about melatonin.
Recently, a dark cloud has crossed the path of melatonin. A preliminary study presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2025 casts doubt on the benefits of melatonin. Let's examine the findings fairly and give some context. After all, there are decades of prior research on melatonin's cardiovascular safety.
The 2025 AHA Abstract: Why the Panic?
In a large observational analysis using electronic health records from the TriNetX Global Research Network, researchers examined records from 130,000 adults who were all diagnosed with chronic insomnia. They compared people who had documentation of long-term melatonin use with matched controls who didn't use melatonin.
Here are their key findings:
- 89% higher risk of new heart failure diagnosis
- Nearly 3.5 times higher risk of heart failure hospitalization
- Almost double the risk of death from any cause
(Source: American Heart Association Press Release, Nov 3, 2025; Full abstract: Circulation Journal Abstract 4371606)
While these numbers sound alarming to me (double the risk of dying from any cause!), it is important to note that these findings are preliminary. But if it is true, everyone should stop taking melatonin right away. The findings in this abstract were rather sensational, so they got a lot of press. Nearly every news outlet reported the results of this new melatonin research.
But this is preliminary research. It hasn't been peer-reviewed yet or published in a journal. It may turn out that this is a premature take on the evidence at hand, and closer examination will eliminate the perceived risk.
This actually could be a "hit piece" against melatonin. Everyone will remember the sensational bad news about melatonin, but it can be quietly retracted later when evidence comes out that it wasn't so bad after all. The retraction will get very little press.
The research team concluded, "These findings challenge the perception of melatonin as a benign chronic therapy and underscore the need for randomized trials to clarify its cardiovascular safety profile.”
The authors themselves noted a few significant limitations:
- Classification of people as users or non-users of melatonin may be skewed in countries like the U.S., where melatonin is widely available over the counter. So a lot of the people classified as non-users may have actually been users of melatonin. After all, the people in this study were all suffering from chronic insomnia.
- They tried to control for a lot of factors, but they may have missed some things, like the severity of insomnia, mental health conditions, or other factors that caused people to use melatonin when they were already at high risk of heart failure. A possible explanation is that clinicians, perceiving melatonin as a cardiovascular-friendly supplement, may have been more inclined to prescribe it for chronic insomnia in patients already at high risk for heart failure.
- Everyone in this study was suffering from chronic insomnia, so the results might not apply to healthy people anyway.
Industry groups like the Council for Responsible Nutrition and sleep experts have urged calm, pointing out that the study doesn't prove melatonin causes harm and may simply reflect that people with more severe, untreated sleep issues end up with worse heart outcomes (CRN Response).
Decades of Research: Melatonin Is Safe and Often Beneficial for Cardiovascular Health
Up until November 2025, there haven't been any negative studies on melatonin and heart outcomes. In fact, the overwhelming body of evidence from randomized control trials, meta-analyses, and reviews has found melatonin to be safe for the heart, with many of the studies showing that it has protective effects because of its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and mitochondrial supporting actions.
Here are some key highlights with the direct links so you can look at the evidence yourself:
- 2021 Meta-Analysis of RCTs in Cardiac Surgery Patients (7 trials, about 400 patients): Melatonin improved heart function (higher ejection fraction) and reduced markers of heart damage. No adverse cardiovascular events were reported, with melatonin having a "favorable safety profile." Short-term results are noted. Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine
- 2022 Comprehensive Review on Melatonin in Cardiovascular Disease: This very long narrative review article details the studies showing melatonin’s protection against hypertension, ischemia-reperfusion injury, heart failure, atherosclerosis, and more in animal models as well as in people. Low natural melatonin levels are linked to worse heart outcomes; supplementation is well-tolerated even at higher doses. Short-term results were mostly noted. Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine
- 2024 Pooled Analysis of NHS, HPFS, NHS-II in USA (159,000 adults followed for up to 23 years): Regular long-term melatonin use showed no increased risk of cardiovascular disease or type 2 diabetes. In fact, melatonin use may have reduced heart disease risk for shift workers. Long-term results here. Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology
- Multiple Meta-Analyses on Blood Pressure: Controlled-release melatonin safely lowers hypertension during the night — a benefit, not a risk. Short-term results. Journal of Clinical Hypertension, 2022
Except for a few case reports of a very transient lowering of heart rate, melatonin has an absolutely clean safety record. There haven't been poison control reports of responsible use of melatonin causing issues at all. There have been no serious adverse events in all of the clinical studies and trials that have been done with melatonin. It's been safe for decades. It appears to be one of the safest supplements out there. Supplements generally have been quite safe and are indeed very regulated, as I pointed out elsewhere.
Because melatonin is an antioxidant, helps reduce inflammation, and supports mitochondrial health, it is often viewed as a potential therapeutic for heart conditions. There is no indication that melatonin, which your body is exposed to every night, is detrimental to health. In fact, as people get older, they tend to produce less melatonin, so exposure naturally decreases over time without supplemental use.
Our Balanced Conclusion: No Reason to Panic — Keep Enjoying Melatonin's Benefits
This single unpublished abstract stands out as an outlier against the mountain of evidence from decades of research showing melatonin's beneficial effects for the heart and cardiovascular system.
Even though this abstract was widely reported, it really needs to be confirmed by other studies, and it needs to go through a peer review process before this evidence is truly accepted. Until then, there's no compelling reason to stop using melatonin responsibly.
Like hundreds of thousands of others in the natural health community, I'm still going to keep taking melatonin every night, not just for sleep, but especially because of all of its benefits beyond sleep.
