Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 7/9/08.  You should consult your doctor if you are taking any medications.

Lowering Blood Cholesterol With Fish Oil And Red Yeast Rice Instead Of Statins - Science Daily, 7/8/08 - "The alternative treatment group participants received daily fish oil and red yeast rice supplements ... The statin group participants received 40 milligrams (mg) of Zocor (simvastatin) daily ... The researchers noted that there was a reduction in LDL cholesterol levels in both groups. The alternative treatment group experienced a 42.4 percent reduction, and the statin group experienced a 39.6 percent reduction. Members of the alternative therapy group also had a substantial reduction in triglycerides, another form of fat found in the blood, and lost more weight" - See red yeast rice at Amazon.com and Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com.

Prostate Cancer Hormone Therapy: No Survival Benefit in Older Men - WebMD, 7/8/08 - "In the U.S., older men often opt for stand-alone hormone therapy, even though there's no proof that it really helps. Hormone therapy's most obvious side effect is sexual dysfunction. Of greater concern are several recent studies linking androgen deprivation therapies to diabetes, heart disease, bone fractures, and reduced muscle mass ... Now a new study strongly suggests that hormone therapy offers older men no benefit to justify these serious risks" - [Science Daily]

Green Vegetables, Fruit Intake Linked to Lower Risk for Diabetes in Women - Medscape, 7/8/09 - "Women who have a higher intake of green leafy vegetables and fruit have a lower risk for type 2 diabetes, whereas those who have a higher intake of fruit juices may have an increased risk for the disease ... An increase of 3 servings of total fruit and vegetable consumption per day was not linked to the development of diabetes (multivariate-adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 0.99; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.94 -1.05), However, an increase in whole fruit consumption of 3 servings per day was associated with a lower risk for type 2 diabetes (HR, 0.82 ... An increase of 1 serving per day of green leafy vegetables was linked to a slightly lower hazard of diabetes (HR, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.84 - 0.98). In contrast, an increase of 1 serving per day of fruit juice consumption was associated with an increased risk for diabetes (HR, 1.18"

Resveratrol May Prevent Breast Cancer - WebMD, 7/7/08 - "when the body's system for processing estrogen gets out of balance, dangerous estrogen metabolites appear. These toxic compounds react with DNA in breast cells and jump-start the growth of tumors ... resveratrol decreases the processing of estrogen into these dangerous compounds. Perhaps more importantly, it also blocks interactions between estrogen metabolites and cellular DNA ... And that's not all. Rogan's team finds that resveratrol increases production of an enzyme that destroys dangerous estrogen metabolites" - [Science Daily] - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com.

Vitamin D Deficiency and Chronic Migraine - Medscape, 7/7/08 - "New research showing that vitamin D deficiency is common in patients with chronic migraine suggests that this patient group, like other vitamin D deficient populations, is at increased risk for cardiovascular disease, malignancy, and other serious illnesses that have been linked to low levels of this "good-health" vitamin ... 40.7% of patients with chronic migraine were deficient in 25-hydroxyvitamin D. The study also showed that the longer individuals had chronic migraine, the more likely they were to be vitamin D deficient" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

Green tea's heart benefits gain support - Nutra USA, 7/7/08 - "Regular consumption of green tea may improve the function of endothelial cells - cells lining the walls of blood vessels - and boost cardiovascular health, according to new research from Greece" - [Abstract] - See green tea extract at Amazon.com.

Interval Training May Beat Mild Exercise at Taming Metabolic Syndrome - WebMD, 7/7/08 - "aerobic interval training -- in which people push their heart rate almost to its limits briefly, followed by a more moderate pace, several times during a workout -- may be even better at reining in metabolic syndrome"

Schizophrenia Linked To Dysfunction In Molecular Brain Pathway Activated By Marijuana - Science Daily, 7/7/08 - "The use of marijuana in individuals with schizophrenia appears to worsen this deficit in GABA synthesis"

Some Seek Guidelines to Reflect Vitamin D's Benefits - washingtonpost.com, 7/4/0 - "A flurry of recent research indicating that Vitamin D may have a dizzying array of health benefits has reignited an intense debate over whether federal guidelines for the "sunshine vitamin" are outdated, leaving millions unnecessarily vulnerable to cancer, heart disease, diabetes and other ailments"

Vitamin D Status During Pregnancy Affects Baby's Dental Health - Doctor's Guide, 7/3/08 - [Science Daily] - "Low maternal vitamin D levels during pregnancy may affect primary tooth calcification, leading to enamel defects, which are a risk factor for early childhood tooth decay"

Resveratrol, Found In Red Wine, Wards Off Effects Of Age On Heart, Bones, Eyes And Muscle - Science Daily, 7/3/08 - "This study, conducted and supported in part by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health, is a follow-up to 2006 findings that resveratrol improves health and longevity of overweight, aged mice. The report confirms previous results suggesting the compound, found naturally in foods like grapes and nuts, may mimic, in mice, some of the effects of dietary or calorie restriction, the most effective and reproducible way found to date to alleviate age-associated disease in mammals" - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com.

Lycopene as effective as statins for artery health: rabbit study - Nutra USA, 7/3/08 - "The results of our experiment in the high-fat diet rabbit model showed that lycopene and fluvastatin lowered serum levels of total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol, improved lipid metabolism, and reduced the amount of triacylglycerols ... Lycopene intervention reduced the increase in ox-LDL levels in rabbits on the high-fat diet, whereas fluvastatin did not show such an effect. The cause of this difference is at present not known, although the result speaks in favour of lycopene ... These findings provide a theoretical rationale for the use of lycopene as a preventive in atherosclerosis" - [Abstract] - See Jarrow Lyco-Sorb (contains Lyco-O-Mato) at Amazon.com.

Looking For The Founatain Of Youth? Cut Your Calories, Research Suggests - Science Daily, 7/3/08 - "While scientists do not know how calorie restriction affects the aging process in rodents, one popular hypothesis is that it slows aging by decreasing a thyroid hormone, triiodothyronine (T3), which then slows metabolism and tissue aging" - All the studies I've read seem to support the opposite:

• Longer-lived Rodents Have Lower Levels Of Thyroid Hormone - Science Daily, 10/12/06 - "T4 levels varied significantly between all of the groups, with the shorter-lived groups having higher levels of T4 than longer-lived groups ... However, because T3, levels did not differ significantly among all the groups, further research in this area using larger sample sizes (numbers of rodents in each group) is needed"
• ACUTE EFFECTS OF TRIIODOTHYRONINE REPLACEMENT THERAPY IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC HEART FAILURE AND LOW-T3 SYNDROME: A RANDOMIZED, PLACEBO-CONTROLLED STUDY - J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2008 Jan 2 - "Low-triiodothyronine (T3) syndrome is a predictor of poor outcome in patients with cardiac dysfunction ... dilated cardiomyopathy (DC) ... In DC patients, short-term synthetic L-T3 replacement therapy significantly improved neuroendocrine profile and ventricular performance"
• Low triiodothyronine: a strong predictor of outcome in acute stroke patients - Eur J Clin Invest. 2007 Aug;37(8):651-7 - "The 1-year mortality was 27.34% for low T3 and 19.37% for normal T3 cases (P = 0.006). A smaller percentage of patients with low T3 values were independent at 1 year compared to those with normal T3 values [54.2% vs. 68.7%, chi(2) = 12.09, P < 0.001, odds ratio (OR) = 0.53"
• Natural killer activity and thyroid hormone levels in young and elderly persons - Gerontology 2001 Sep-Oct;47(5):282-8 - "Decreased serum concentrations of total T(3) may contribute to low NK activity in the 'almost healthy' subgroup of the elderly"
• Does low tri-iodothyronine independently predict mortality in elderly hospitalised patients? -  Int J Clin Pract 2001 Jul-Aug;55(6):409-10 - "Our study shows an association of low serum T3 with patient mortality in elderly hospitalised patients"

Fountain of youth? Red wine gives up secrets - MSNBC, 7/3/08 - "Most of mice given resveratrol did not live longer than other mice but were far more healthy in several important measures" - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com.

Benefits Of Green Tea In Reducing An Important Risk Factor For Heart Disease - Science Daily, 7/2/08 - [WebMD] - "More evidence for the beneficial effect of green tea on risk factors for heart disease has emerged in a new study. The study found that the consumption of green tea rapidly improves the function of (endothelial) cells lining the circulatory system; endothelial dysfunction is a key event in the progression of atherosclerosis" - See green tea extract at Amazon.com.

Broccoli May Cut Prostate Cancer Risk - WebMD, 7/1/08 - [Science Daily] - "men who regularly ate broccoli showed more changes in gene expression suggestive of a reduced risk of cancer"

YouTube Kowalski interview (3 minutes) - Author of The New 8 Week Cholesterol Cure (Paperback)

Abstracts from this week's Doctor's Guide Nutrition/Dietetics plus abstracts from my RSS feeds (Click here for the journals, the PubMed ones at the top):

The acute effect of green tea consumption on endothelial function in healthy individuals - Eur J Cardiovasc Prev Rehabil. 2008 Jun;15(3):300-5 - "Flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) ... FMD increased significantly with tea (by 3.69%, peak at 30 min, P<0.02), whereas it did not change significantly with caffeine (increase by 1.72%, peak at 30 min, P=NS) ... Green tea consumption has an acute beneficial effect on endothelial function, assessed with FMD of the brachial artery, in healthy individuals. This may be involved in the beneficial effect of tea on cardiovascular risk" - See green tea extract at Amazon.com.

HbA1C, but not serum glycated albumin, is elevated in late pregnancy due to iron deficiency - Diabetes Care. 2008 Jul 3 - "HbA(1C) levels were elevated in late pregnancy due to iron deficiency. Serum GA may offer a better index for monitoring glycemic control in pregnancy"

Effect of irbesartan on erectile function in patients with hypertension and metabolic syndrome - Int J Impot Res. 2008 Jul 3 - "Erectile function increased significantly (P<0.0001) after 6 months of treatment with irbesartan, irrespective of dosage and independent of additional treatment with hydrochlorothiazide. Prevalence of ED declined to 63.7% from 78.5% at baseline, along with a significant increase in orgasmic function (P<0.001) and intercourse satisfaction (P<0.001). Treatment with irbesartan alone, as well as in combination with hydrochlorothiazide is associated with an improvement of sexual desire, frequency of sexual contacts and erectile function in hypertensive patients with the metabolic syndrome. These results suggest a beneficial role of angiotensin receptor antagonists in the treatment of metabolic syndrome, and ED" - Note:  I've been suggesting telmisartan (an ARB) for some time as the first line treatment for hypertension.  See telmisartan at OffshoreRX.

Comparison of lycopene and fluvastatin effects on atherosclerosis induced by a high-fat diet in rabbits - Nutrition. 2008 Jun 26 - "Compared with the control, levels of total cholesterol, total triacylglycerol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, malonaldehyde, oxidized low-density lipoprotein, and interleukin-1 were increased and total antioxidant capacity and nitric oxide were decreased in the animals with a high-fat diet (P < 0.05). Intragastric administration of lycopene counteracted the change in these parameters (P < 0.05). In this case, the data showed that lycopene in the used dose was better than the fluvastatin intervention. Morphologic analysis revealed that lycopene and fluvastatin markedly reduced the formation of atherosclerotic plaques in the aorta compared with the situation in rabbits on a high-fat diet alone ... Lycopene, like fluvastatin, significantly attenuated atherogenesis in rabbits fed a high-fat diet" - See Jarrow Lyco-Sorb (contains Lyco-O-Mato) at Amazon.com.

Neat Tech Stuff :

• Cargo Carried for Honda Civic GX (compressed natural gas)

Supplement Focus (Melatonin):

General Melatonin Information:

• Melatonin and Cancer - Life Extension Magazine, 6/01
• Melatonin - M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
• Melatonin - The Natural Pharmacist
• What is the best way to use melatonin to prevent or relieve jet lag? - Dr. Murray
• I suffer from seasonal affective disorder. Do you have any suggestions? - Dr. Murray - "Melatonin supplementation may improve SAD because it not only increases brain melatonin levels, but also because it may suppress cortisol secretion"
• Melatonin, Nature's Sleeping Pill - Ray Sahelian, M.D.
• Melatonin as anti prostatitis - prostatitis.org

Melatonin News & Research:

• melatonin at Amazon.com
• Low Melatonin Associated with Increased Risk of Breast Cancer in Postmenopausal Women - Science Daily, 6/15/08 - "women with the lowest levels of melatonin had a statistically significantly higher incidence of breast cancer than those with the highest levels"
• Night Shift Work May Cause Cancer - WebMD, 11/30/07 - "They note that shift work may raise cancer risk by suppressing production of melatonin, a chemical involved in the circadian rhythm"
• High Melatonin Content Can Help Delay Aging, Mouse Study Suggests - Science Daily, 4/24/07 - "Therefore, the researcher asserts, daily melatonin intake in humans from the age of 30 or 40 could prevent – or, at least, delay – illnesses related to aging, free radicals and inflammatory processes, such as many neurodegenerative disorders (e.g. Parkinson's disease) and complications linked to other illnesses, like diabetes"
• Salivary Melatonin May Help Fight Gum Disease - Science Daily, 9/13/06 - "the melatonin may fight against infection and inflammation possibly due to its antioxidant, anti-aging and immunoenhancing ability"
• Grapes May Help With Sleep - WebMD, 6/19/06 - "The juicy fruit might be packing melatonin, a sleep hormone"
• Another Grape Excuse To Hit The Bottle - Science Daily, 6/16/06 - "the grapes used to make some of the most popular red wines contain high levels of the sleep hormone melatonin"
• Best Time to Take Melatonin? - WebMD, 5/3/06
• Melatonin Improves Mood In Winter Depression - Science Daily, 5/2/06 - "melatonin, a naturally occurring brain substance, can relieve the doldrums of winter depression, also known as seasonal affective disorder, or SAD"
• Melatonin Most Effective For Sleep When Taken For Off-hour Sleeping - Science Daily, 5/1/06 - "sleep efficiency during the six hour, 40 minute episodes was significantly higher in the groups that took melatonin during times when the body was not producing melatonin. At those times, participants taking 5.0mg of melatonin had a sleep efficiency of 83 percent and those taking 0.3mg melatonin had a sleep efficiency of 84 percent"
• Melatonin Supplements review - ConsumerLab.com, 4/5/06
• Melatonin Pills May Help Ease Tinnitus - WebMD, 2/24/06
• Melatonin could help tinnitus, improve sleep - Nutra USA, 2/23/06
• Melatonin for Travelers' Sleep Woes? - WebMD, 2/9/06
• Melatonin may cut hypertension - Nutra USA, 2/2/06 - "A 10 per cent decline of BP over daytime values is considered appropriate to reduce the cardiovascular risk ... During placebo use only 39 per cent of the subjects reached this value, but this rate surged to 84 per cent during melatonin administration"
• Study Demonstrates Role Of Exercise In Modifying Melatonin Levels; Increase Believed To Offer Breast Cancer Protection - Science Daily, 12/3/05
• Stopping Jet Lag Before It Starts - WebMD, 11/2/05 - "The body clocks of those who took melatonin adapted better to the new schedule. The higher dose of melatonin fared best in that regard, but not by much. Plus, people who took the higher dose were sleepier in the evenings after taking the pill"
• Travelers Can Avoid Jet Lag By Resetting Their Body Clocks - Science Daily, 11/2/05
• Melatonin to Fight Insomnia: Timing Is Key - WebMD, 10/25/05 - "melatonin was most effective in resetting the body's internal, or circadian, clock when it was timed to the individual's sleep patterns ... If you only want to induce sleep you can take it about two hours before you want to go to sleep"
• Melatonin May Reduce the Pain of Irritable Bowel Syndrome - Medscape, 10/14/05 - "Use of 3 mg of melatonin once daily for two weeks in IBS patients is associated with improvement in bowel pain and rectal distension thresholds for urgency and pain but not with a change in stool frequency, type, or quality of life"
• Add-On Melatonin Improves Sleep Behavior in Children With Epilepsy: Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial - Medscape, 5/24/05
• Melatonin Modestly Effective for Sleep - WebMD, 3/3/05
• Melatonin study could 'jump-start' interest in supplement - Nutra USA, 3/2/05
• Popular Supplement Melatonin Found To Have Broader Effects In Brain Than Once Thought - Science Daily, 2/11/05 - "In experiments on the Japanese quail, the researchers found that melatonin switches on a recently discovered hormone called gonadotropin inhibitory hormone (GnIH), which has been found to have the opposite effect to the key hormone priming the body for sex – gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH). In birds, switching off GnRH causes the gonads – testes and ovary – to shrink as part of the birds' yearly cycle"
• U.S. Study Sees Little Benefit From Melatonin - HealthDay, 12/22/04 - "The one area where melatonin did seem to work was with a group of people with a condition called "delayed sleep phase syndrome," which means that otherwise healthy people have a biological quirk that prevents a normal sleep cycle"
• Melatonin Supplements May Not Help Sleep - WebMD, 12/10/04
• Melatonin May Improve Sleep Quality in Patients With Asthma - Medscape, 11/1/04
• Melatonin Effective in Relieving Pain But Not Sleep Disturbance Related to Irritable Bowel Syndrome - Doctor's Guide, 9/30/04
• Melatonin May Help Prevent Migraines - WebMD, 9/9/04
• Melatonin Decreases Migraine Frequency and Intensity - Medscape, 9/9/04 - "Of 32 patients who completed the study, 25 patients (78.1%) had at least a 50% reduction in headache frequency from baseline, eight patients (25%) had no headaches, and none of the patients had increased headaches after three months of therapy"
• Melatonin Relieves Stabbing Headaches - Healthwell Exchange Daily News, 2/26/04
• Melatonin to Lower Blood Pressure? - Dr. Weil, 2/24/04
• Caffeine, Melatonin May Ease Jet Lag - WebMD, 2/6/04
• Nightime Melatonin Supplementation May Be Useful in the Treatment of Essential Hypertension - Doctor's Guide, 2/4/04 - "2.5 mg/day ... mean sleep systolic blood pressure decreased by 6 mm Hg and mean sleep diastolic blood pressure decreased by 4 mm Hg ... Repeated melatonin significantly increased sleep efficiency from 80% to 85% and increased actual sleep time from 5.6 to 6.1 hours. Melatonin therapy also reduced sleep latency from 33 to 22 minutes"
• Jet Lag Hormone Lowers Blood Pressure - WebMD, 1/20/04
• Melatonin May Cut Hypertension Risk - HealthDay, 1/19/04 - "The men were randomly assigned to receive either a placebo, a single dose of melatonin or 2.5 milligrams of melatonin one hour before bedtime for three weeks ... those taking the hormone each night throughout the three weeks had lower nighttime systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Systolic blood pressure (the top number in the reading) decreased by an average of six millimeters of mercury while the diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number) decreased by an average of four millimeters of mercury" - See iHerb or Vitacost melatonin products.
• Melatonin and Cancer Treatment - Life Extension Magazine, 1/04
• Melatonin Helpful for Delayed Sleep Onset in Children With ADHD - Medscape, 10/21/03
• People With Asthma Cautioned About Melatonin Use - Doctor's Guide, 9/8/03
• Hormone Melatonin Slows Breast Cancer - WebMD, 7/14/03 - "The nighttime hormone melatonin puts breast cancer cells to sleep. It also slows breast cancer growth by 70%"
• Nighttime Computer Users May Lose Sleep - WebMD, 6/20/03 - "the bright light of a computer screen may alter the body's biological clock and suppress the natural production of melatonin that's critical to the normal sleep-wake cycle"
• Night Shifts May Raise Cancer Risk - WebMD, 6/3/03 - "Data from an ongoing study of almost 80,000 nurses already suggest that working nights increases a woman's risk of breast cancer ... a new analysis points to a similar association for colorectal cancer ... "The peak production of melatonin occurs at about 1 or 2 a.m." Exposure to light at night stops the production of melatonin" - See iHerb or Vitacost melatonin products.
• Melatonin Effective Treatment for Chronic Insomnia in Children - New Hope Natural Media, 5/15/03
• Melatonin Appears Safe for Child Insomniacs - Clinical Psychiatry News, 3/03 - "Melatonin appears to be a safe and effective treatment for children with insomnia ... The average age of the patients was 9.6 years ... Dr. Ivanenko, who is a child psychiatrist at the University of Louisville (Ky.), said she typically starts children at 1-5 mg of melatonin and titrates up to as much as 8-10 mg in adolescents" -  See iHerb or Vitacost melatonin products.
• Melatonin: What Is the Scoop? - Dr. Weil, 1/28/03
• Melatonin May Worsen Asthma - WebMD, 10/9/02
• Melatonin Helps Shorten Recovery Time from Jet Lag - New Hope Natural Media, 7/11/02
• Neuroprotective Effects of Melatonin Assessed - Doctor's Guide, 4/30/02 - "The neuroprotective effects of melatonin appear to be related to antioxidant and antiamyloidogenic features of the hormone, not to the involvement of melatonin receptors"
• Can Melatonin Put Tumors to Sleep? - Nutrition Science News, 12/01
• Melatonin Helps Children Sleep Through Magnetic Resonance Studies - Doctor's Guide, 11/26/01
• Study: Power Lines May Aid Cancer Cells - Intelihealth, 10/29/01 - "electromagnetic fields disrupted the functioning of the hormone melatonin in individual cells ... Scientists have accepted since 1987 that the substance suppresses the multiplication of cancer cells ... They exposed two batches of the [breast cancer] cell to two different levels of electromagnetic field ... In both cases, the ability of melatonin to suppress the growth of the cancer cells was found to have declined. In some cells with smaller concentrations of melatonin, the suppressive effect was entirely absent"
• Melatonin Helps Break Valium Dependence - Nutrition Science News, 3/01
• Study bolsters melatonin sleep claims - CNN, 10/12/00
• Setting the Body Clock in the Dark - WebMD, 10/12/00
• Hormone Can Regulate Internal Clock - Intelihealth, 10/12/00
• Not Getting Your Zs? Melatonin Can Help - WebMD, 6/23/00
• Melatonin helps kids with sleep-onset insomnia - Doctor's Guide, 5/2/00
• A Supplement Plan for Seniors - Nutrition Science News, 12/99
• Electric Magnetic Fields Reduce Melatonin - Nutrition Science News, 10/99
• Sleep's healing properties - CNN, 8/25/99

Melatonin Abstracts:

• Endocrine regulation of the course of menopause by oral melatonin: first case report - Menopause. 2007 Nov 8 - "The data obtained in this case report show that melatonin administration was able to delay the characteristic endocrine changes that occur during the course of menopause"
• Night Shift Work and the Risk of Endometrial Cancer - Cancer Res. 2007 Nov 1;67(21):10618-10622 - "Women who worked 20+ years of rotating night shifts had a significantly increased risk of endometrial cancer [MVRR, 1.47 ... obese women working rotating night shifts doubled their baseline risk of endometrial cancer (MVRR, 2.09; 95% CI, 1.24-3.52) compared with obese women who did no night work ... Women working rotating night shifts for a long duration have a significantly increased risk of endometrial cancer, particularly if they are obese. We speculate that this increased risk is attributable to the effects of melatonin on hormonal and metabolic factors"
• Acute effect of metformin on exercise capacity in active males - Diabetes Obes Metab. 2007 Oct 29 - "A single dose of metformin does not acutely influence maximal oxygen consumption or ventilatory threshold in healthy active males. The lower lactate concentration observed during continuous exercise with metformin was an unexpected finding considering that, in the resting state, metformin has been previously associated with a modest increase in lactate concentrations"
• Efficacy of prolonged release melatonin in insomnia patients aged 55-80 years: quality of sleep and next-day alertness outcomes - Curr Med Res Opin. 2007 Sep 14 - "PR-melatonin results in significant and clinically meaningful improvements in sleep quality, morning alertness, sleep onset latency and quality of life in primary insomnia patients aged 55 years and over"
• Effects of melatonin and rilmazafone on nocturia in the elderly - J Int Med Res. 2007 Sep-Oct;35(5):685-91 - "melatonin (2 mg/day; n = 20) or rilmazafone (2 mg/day; n = 22) for 4 weeks ... After 4 weeks' treatment, the number of nocturnal urinations was significantly decreased and the QoL score was significantly improved in both groups. There was no significant difference between the patient-reported effectiveness ratings between the two groups" - See melatonin at Amazon.com.
• Daily nighttime melatonin reduces blood pressure in male patients with essential hypertension - Hypertension. 2004 Feb;43(2):192-7 - "In patients with essential hypertension, repeated bedtime melatonin intake significantly reduced nocturnal blood pressure"-  See iHerb or Vitacost melatonin products.
• Melatonin-induced reduction in age-related accumulation of oxidative damage in mice - Biogerontology. 2003;4(3):133-9 - "The findings indicate that low-dose chronic administration of melatonin acts as a free radical scavenger and anti-aging agent"
• Melatonin treatment for tardive dyskinesia: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study - Arch Gen Psychiatry 2001 Nov;58(11):1049-52
• Melatonin inhibits testosterone secretion by acting at hypothalamo-pituitary-gonadal axis in the rat - Neuroendocrinol Lett 2000;21(4):301-306
• Antioxidative effects of melatonin in protection against cellular damage caused by ionizing radiation - Proc Soc Exp Biol Med. 2000 Oct;225(1):9-22 - "The radioprotective effects of melatonin against cellular damage caused by oxidative stress and its low toxicity make this molecule a potential supplement in the treatment or co-treatment in situations where the effects of ionizing radiation are to be minimized."
• Evidence for a local action of melatonin on the rat prostate - J Urol 1998 Mar;159(3):1069-73 - "The results demonstrate putative melatonin receptors in the rat prostate and suggest a direct suppression by melatonin of testosterone-dependent prostate growth"
• Bioavailability of oral melatonin in humans - Neuroendocrinology 1984 Oct;39(4):307-13 (shows that melatonin has a short half-life)