Melatonin DNA Repair Shields Normal Cells and Sabotages Cancer Ones
Melatonin does something unusual that most antioxidants cannot: it protects your healthy cells' DNA while simultaneously making cancer cells worse at fixing themselves. This dual behavior, supporting genomic stability in normal tissue and undermining it in tumors, makes melatonin one of the more fascinating molecules in DNA damage research. It is not just passively blocking damage. It actively participates in repair chemistry and flips its role depending on the cellular context. The practical tension here is real. A molecule that enhances DNA repair in one setting and deliberately impairs it in another raises important questions about who benefits, at what dose, and under what circumstances.