Melatonin has taken center-stage in terms of interest from both the scientific community as well as the general population. And there are really good reasons for all this attention. Recently, with the Covid pandemic, melatonin has been looked upon as a way of "boosting the immune system." We've looked at melatonin for many years as a sleep aid and as a way of dealing with jet lag. We know that melatonin has antioxidant properties and even anti-inflammatory activity as well.

But, all of these ideas and information are ultimately confusing, to say the least. That's why today we're spending time with my good for friend, Dr. Deanna Minich, who has recently authored a terrific paper on this fascinating but confusing subject.. We talk about this paper, why she became interested in this fascinating molecule found in animals as well as plants,, and most importantly, what we can all do to benefit from this exciting new research on our Empowering Neurologist interview.

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0:00 Intro

2:47 Why Melatonin?

4:16 Plant Melatonin

5:45 How the body produces melatonin 

9:18 Vitamin D vs Melatonin 

12:50 Anti-inflammatory Activity 

15:30 Aging & Mitochondria Decline

26:03 Supplementing

35:02 Melatonin Binding to Vitamin D

37:09 Darkness Deficiency 

46:06 Conclusion

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Deanna Minich, MS, PhD, CNS, Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner (IFMCP), is a nutrition scientist, international lecturer, teacher, and author, with over twenty years of experience in academia and in the food and dietary supplement industries. Throughout the years, she has been active as a functional medicine clinician in clinical trials and in her own practice (Food & Spirit™), which has now become oriented towards groups, workshops, and retreats. She is the author of six consumer books on wellness topics, four book chapters, and fifty scientific publications. Her academic background is in nutrition science, including a Master of Science (M.S.) degree in Human Nutrition and Dietetics from the University of Illinois at Chicago (1995) and a Doctorate (Ph.D.) in Medical Sciences (nutrition focus) from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands (1999). For a decade, she was part of the research team led by the “father of Functional Medicine,” Dr. Jeffrey Bland, and has served on the Nutrition Advisory Board for The Institute of Functional Medicine, as well as on the Board of Directors for the American Nutrition Association. Since 2013, she has been part of the faculty for the Advanced Practice Module in Environmental Health offered by the Institute for Functional Medicine and has been teaching a graduate level course in metabolic detoxification at the University of Western States. Over the decades, she has taught thousands of nutrition classes for health coaches, fitness trainers, and healthcare professionals, including for programs offered by the Functional Medicine Coaching Academy and the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. In conjunction with her academic degrees and extensive teaching experience at the university level, she is both a Fellow (FACN) and a Certified Nutrition Specialist (CNS) through the American College of Nutrition. She is Chief Science Officer at Symphony Natural Health, where she leads the medical advisory team, oversees scientific communication, and provide educational leadership for the company’s plant-derived nutraceuticals. She is passionate about helping others to live well using therapeutic lifestyle changes that impact their physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health. 

Visit her at: www.deannaminich.com

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