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closeThis Involves Melatonin and DHEA
Posted by plosmedicine on 30 Mar 2009 at 23:39 GMT
Author: James Howard
Position: biologist
Institution: independent
E-mail: jmhoward@anthropogeny.com
Submitted Date: January 07, 2005
Published Date: January 10, 2005
This comment was originally posted as a “Reader Response” on the publication date indicated above. All Reader Responses are now available as comments.
It is my hypothesis of sleep is that melatonin is high at night and DHEA is high during the day. One affects the production of the other. If melatonin is low, then DHEA is low. Taheri reported "Participants with short sleep had reduced leptin and elevated ghrelin." I suggest their findings may indicate that melatonin may be low in their subjects and this is connected with their findings. Melatonin decreases leptin (Endocrine. 2003 Jul;21(2):169-73) and increases ghrelin (Endocrine. 2001 Oct;16(1):43-6).
Now, I suggest this reduced production of melatonin and, therefore, DHEA may be the cause of increased BMI in their subjects. DHEA is known to reduce fat / obesity.