Melatonin
In this video, Russel Reiter spends about 28 minutes speaking on "Melatonin" at the 27th Annual Cancer Convention held on Labor Day weekend by the Cancer Control Society.
About Russel Reiter
RUSSEL REITER, Ph.D. received his Degree in Endocrinology from Bowman Gray School of Medicine at Wake Forest College, Winston-Salem, North Carolina in 1964. He was then appointed Professor of Anatomy at the University of Rochester, New York and later at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, Texas. Since 1984, he has been a Professor of Neuro-endocrinology at the University of Texas Health Science Center. He may be contacted at 210-567-3859.
In the subsequent 30 years, Dr. Reiter has received more than 40 honors and awards, including 3 Honorary Doctorates in Medicine and the coveted McIntyre Medal for Achievement in Medical Science.
Dr. Reiter is Founder and Editor of The Journal of Pineal Research and he has served on the Advisory Board of 23 other Medical Journals. He has been first author or made substantial contributions to more than 700 research articles in peer-reviewed Journals including Science, Nature and Lancet. He has written 6 professional books and edited 37 others. He is also a dedicated teacher and has worked with more than 90 postdoctoral students. His outstanding teaching ability has earned him 4 separate citations.
Dr. Reiter has devoted 33 years of research to the pineal gland and melatonin. Colleagues have labeled him “the godfather” of melatonin research. His major interests in research have related to the role of the pineal gland and melatonin in reproductive physiology, factors regulating pineal melatonin production and, most recently, the function of melatonin in antioxidative defense mechanisms.
Dr. Reiter co-authored a book with Jo Robinson called Melatonin – Breakthrough Discoveries That Can Help You. This book reveals cutting-edge research on melatonin – a natural hormone and antioxidant that helps determine how well we sleep, how fast we age and how effectively we fight off disease and toxins. Chapter 6, Taming the Savage Cell, tells about your built-in protection against cancer.
The book also provides vital information on how to protect and enhance your body’s natural production of this life-giving hormone such as High Serotonin In The Day, High Melatonin At Night – A Recipe For Health.
Transcription
Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen. I'm a research scientist who has been working on the pineal gland and melatonin probably before some of you were born.
What Does Melatonin Do?
I must talk about the pineal gland and melatonin. Melatonin was discovered in 1959, and I began working on it 1964. Most of you probably know melatonin by virtue of the fact that it's generally considered beneficial for sleep and it just your biological clock.
I'm not going to spend a great deal of time talking about those aspects, but I am going to discuss its potential role in cancer.
The melatonin that you are most knowledgeable with derives from the pineal gland. A small organ near the center of your brain. Until 1959, we thought this structure was a vestigial relic that is non-functional. In fact, we now know that it's an end organ of the visual system. And I will show you those neural connections. And it produces melatonin, particularly when you are young.
Here again is the pineal gland, very near the center of your brain. It's roughly the size of a pea. And in none mammalian vertebrates, it is directly responsive to light and darkness that penetrates the skull. It is known in those species as the third eye. In mammals, that is all hairy creatures including humans,. it still maintains a connection with the external environment, however, that connection is via the eyes.
In other words, your pineal gland is not directly photosensitive, but responds to light and darkness that is perceived by your eyes and your eyes are connected to your pineal gland via a series of very well defined nerve fibers.
We know where are those fibers are, and we know how they control the pineal gland.
What the pineal gland in fact, produces perhaps several molecules. The best known of which, however, is melatonin. If we look at your blood levels of melatonin throughout a 24 hour period, they exhibit a very unique and distinct circadian rhythm. During the daytime right about now, if I take a blood sample from any of you. And I assume your normal, you will have low circulating levels of melatonin. With the onset of darkness at night, melatonin levels increase, and this melatonin derives from your pineal gland. It is synthesized there in immediately release. Highest levels are achieved about 2 o'clock in the morning, and then they anticipate lights on and drop back to basal values at about the time you awaken in the morning.
What is another feature that makes it unique is that the amplitude of your nocturnal rise is unique to you as an individual, and this may be physiologically relevant. In