How much melatonin can contain 100 ml Cherry Concentrate Lamberts®?
R/ With regards to your enquiry, it is correct that sour Montmorency cherries, such as those used in Lamberts Cherry Concentrate, are a natural source of melatonin however we do not standardise this in our formula. As it turns out, the sour cherries do not work on the production of melatonin alone in its effects on sleep.
You may be interested in the following study led by Dr. Glyn Howatson in 2012, where 20 healthy volunteers were given 30 mL servings of Montmorency tart cherry juice concentrate for seven days and then compared to placebo. These participants demonstrated significantly increased time in bed, total sleep time and total sleep efficiency and that this was related to an increase in melatonin.
A later study in 2014 then which showed that two glasses a day of Montmorency cherry juice can ensure a better night’s sleep resulting in up to 90 minutes extra sleep time.
Liu, A., Tipton, R., Pan, W., Finley, J., Prudente, A., Karki, N., … & Greenway, F. (2014). Tart cherry juice increases sleep time in older adults with insomnia (830.9). The FASEB Journal, 28(1 Supplement), 830-9: https://www.fasebj.org/doi/10.1096/fasebj.28.1_supplement.830.9
This paper specifically examined why tart cherry juice appears to have a greater effect in improving sleep than melatonin alone and they concluded that, besides the natural component of melatonin in sour cherries, there are other nutrients in the Montmorency tart cherry juice which also improves how the body uses tryptophan. This tryptophan is converted into serotonin and melatonin, which further improves sleep over several hours or even days.
