Melatonin supplementation improves glycemic hemostasis, lipid profile, and adipokine concentrations of obese women: A double-blind randomized clinical trial

Background: Obesity and related diseases are an important universal public issue that harms man’s well-being. Recently, growing attention has been paid to the anti-obesity effect of melatonin. Objective: This study aims to assess melatonin’s impact on obesity-related factors including glycemic status, adipokines levels, lipid, and anthropometric indices in women who are obese and undergoing a calorie-restricted diet. Methods: In this double-blind placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial (RCT) study, 46 obese women were randomly assigned into either melatonin (6 g/d) or placebo (6 g/d) group and calorie-restricted diets for 40 days. Serum concentrations of fasting blood sugar (FBS), insulin, leptin, adiponectin, total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), insulin resistance as well as anthropometric indices were evaluated at the beginning and end of the intervention. Findings: Melatonin consumption grave rise a marked diminish in insulin (P=0.006) and HOMA-IR (P=0.001), which the between-group comparisons were substantial only for HOMA-IR (P=0.020) after adjusting for confounders. Adiponectin levels improved remarkably relative to the placebo (P=0.010). Lipid measures including TG, LDL-c, and HDL-c declined remarkably in the melatonin group post-intervention, whereas among-group percent changes were notable in HDL-c after adjusting for confounders (P=0.040). Notable variations were not observed in anthropometric indices in the melatonin group, compared to the placebo at the final. Conclusion: the present study, revealed that melatonin supplementation markedly improved glycemic indices, adiponectin, and lipid profile related to obesity. Trial Registration: Identifier: IRCT2012122411867N1; https://irct.behdasht.gov.ir/.