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Melatonin
A hormone your body makes in the dark, which tells your internal clock that it is night. It carries two authorised EU health claims, one for falling asleep and one for jet lag, and the sleep claim is tied to an exact dose: 1 mg, shortly before bed. Both formulas that carry it hold exactly that, and nothing more.
WHAT WE ARE ALLOWED TO SAY
Two claims. Both authorised, both with a condition.
These are the exact wordings we hold for melatonin's two authorised EU claims. Each comes with a condition we do not bend: the sleep claim needs 1 mg taken shortly before going to bed, and the jet lag claim needs at least 0.5 mg taken shortly before bed on the first day of travel and for a few days after you arrive. We do not paraphrase either into something that sounds stronger.These are the exact wordings we hold for melatonin's two authorised EU claims. The sleep claim needs 1 mg shortly before bed; the jet lag claim needs at least 0.5 mg on the first days of travel.
Melatonin has no authorised claim for sleep quality or for staying asleep, and neither claim covers a dose below its condition. Both our formulas carry 1 mg and serve it at night, shortly before sleep, so the sleep claim holds at the full dose. Neither formula is built around travel, so on their pages we use the sleep claim only.
WHY SYNTHETIC
Identical to your own. Not a stronger version of it.
The form we use is synthetic, pharmaceutical grade, at least 99.5% pure and chemically identical to the melatonin your body makes. It is also the form our EU regulatory record requires, so this is not a choice made to sound better. It stays stable in a liquid, dissolves in oil, is sensitive to light and tastes bitter.
Pharmaceutical grade, at least 99.5% pure, and identical to the melatonin your body makes. It is the form our EU regulatory record names.
Our notes use immediate release at 0.5 – 1 mg to shorten the time it takes to fall asleep. It starts to act in 20 – 60 minutes, and half of it is gone within 30 – 60 minutes.
2 mg prolonged release is a prescription medicine, Circadin®, authorised by the EMA for short-term use in primary insomnia from the age of 55. Our notes keep prolonged release for staying asleep. Our formulas carry 1 mg, not 2.
Very little of the melatonin you swallow reaches your blood: about 15% in our record. There is no authorised claim that any form gets further, and we are not going to imply one. Our notes also say that low doses, 0.3 – 1 mg, work as well as higher ones for falling asleep and are better tolerated, so nothing on file argues for going above 1 mg.About 15% of an oral dose reaches your blood in our record, whatever the form. Low doses work as well as high ones for falling asleep, so nothing on file argues for more than 1 mg.
WHERE IT APPEARS
Two of the twenty-nine carry melatonin.
Both are night formulas, both carry exactly 1 mg and both are served away from food, because fat can delay its absorption by around three hours. It is never served in the morning or the afternoon, where it would push your internal clock the wrong way. Because each formula already holds the whole 1 mg, the two are never served on the same night.
THE CEILING
1 mg a day, the stricter legal limit. Not an EFSA one.
EFSA has not formally set an upper intake level for melatonin, and there is no NRV, because your body makes its own. The limits that exist are legal ones, for melatonin sold as a food supplement, and they vary by country: 1 mg a day in France and Italy, and up to 1.9 mg a day in Spain, under its food safety agency. Above 2 mg, many EU countries treat it as a prescription medicine. Each of our formulas carries 1 mg, the stricter French and Italian figure, and no other formula carries any. Our rule for the engine caps your total at 1.9 mg a day, the Spanish limit, so two are never served together.EFSA has not set an upper limit for melatonin. Legal limits vary: 1 mg a day in France and Italy, 1.9 mg in Spain. Each formula carries 1 mg, and the engine caps your total at 1.9 mg, so two are never served on the same night.
Sleep & circadian rhythm and Relax & fast sleep both carry 1 mg. The engine counts the total, not each formula, so on a given night you get one or the other, never both. Our notes also flag 5-HTP, Montmorency cherries and pineal extracts as ways the total could double up.
Daytime drowsiness, headache, dizziness, nausea, irritability, vivid dreams and a slight drop in body temperature. It causes drowsiness: do not drive or use machinery for 4 – 5 hours after taking it. See a doctor if you need it for more than four weeks.
Not in pregnancy or breastfeeding. Under 18, only on a doctor's prescription. Not with an autoimmune condition such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis or multiple sclerosis, because it can stimulate the immune system. Both formulas are ruled out if you take a vitamin K antagonist such as warfarin, and Sleep & circadian rhythm also if you have liver disease. Neither formula is taken with alcohol, benzodiazepines, sleeping pills or other sedatives. Epilepsy is on our file's list of conditions VION must flag before assigning melatonin, so declare it in the app and ask a doctor first. Ask a doctor first too if you have liver disease, diabetes, a heart condition or an arrhythmia. If you have or have had cancer, especially a hormone-dependent one, ask your oncologist first.
WHAT IT REACTS WITH
Documented pairs, not hunches.
Melatonin is one of the 140 ingredients in our library, so it has 139 possible partners. We have documented 15 of them, out of the 443 pairs on file. Nine are complementary, among them the magnesium, L-theanine, passionflower, GABA and valerian it shares formulas with. CBD can be combined with it at low doses, up to 25 mg with up to 1 mg of melatonin, with a warning about drowsiness the next morning. Caffeine and other stimulants fall under a separate rule: never within eight hours of a sedative.
Charcoal binds it in the gut: never in the same dose, at least 3 hours apart, and at night the charcoal goes at least 3 hours before. St John's wort speeds up the enzymes that clear melatonin and lowers its levels, so the two are not formulated together. That pair is still flagged for review in our file.
Konjac glucomannan, psyllium husk and white clay can reduce how much of it you absorb. They are kept at least 2 hours apart from it.
With warfarin it can strengthen the anticoagulant effect, and your INR should be monitored if you start it. Neither formula is taken with alcohol, benzodiazepines, sleeping pills or other sedatives. Otherwise, ask a doctor first if you take anticoagulants, antidiabetics (it may raise morning blood sugar), immunosuppressants, beta-blockers, anticonvulsants or psychiatric medication. Fluvoxamine and ciprofloxacin can raise its levels up to 17 times and the contraceptive pill raises them too; smoking, rifampicin and carbamazepine lower them. Data on calcium-channel blockers are mixed.
Only one of melatonin's medication interactions, warfarin, is in our drug table so far: the rest of the warning above comes from its own file, not from a checked pair. Across the library, 443 of the 9,730 possible pairs are documented, which is 4.55%. The rest are not "safe", they are simply unchecked, and we would rather write that down than let the number look like a badge.Only warfarin is in our drug table so far for melatonin. Across the library, 443 of the 9,730 possible pairs are documented, which is 4.55%. The rest are not safe, they are simply unchecked.
SOURCES
Everything on this page, with its reference.
Reviewed by VION nutrition team · last reviewed 16 September 2026Read the introduction to Melatonin →
140 INGREDIENTS · 64 IN USE TODAY
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