{
  "type": "fact",
  "url": "https://karelbusta.dev/data/sleep/melatonin-use-rose-fivefold",
  "title": "US melatonin use rose about fivefold in two decades",
  "claim": "The share of US adults who reported taking melatonin in the past 30 days rose from 0.4% in 1999–2000 to 2.1% in 2017–2018, with almost all of the rise after 2009–2010.",
  "description": "Reported melatonin use among US adults went from 0.4% (1999–2000) to 2.1% (2017–2018) in NHANES, with the rise starting around 2010.",
  "confidence": "solid",
  "published": "2026-10-14",
  "context": "By 2017–2018, about 1 in 50 US adults reported taking melatonin, up from about 1 in 250 at the turn of the century. Use among both women and men stayed under 1% through 2011–2012 and then climbed. The authors date the start of the rise to 2009–2010 and found the trend similar across sex and age groups. The authors also report a rise in use above 5 mg a day, from 0.08% in 2005–2006 to 0.28% in 2017–2018, which is higher than the usual recommended dose. The \"fivefold\" is approximate: the 1999–2000 figure rests on few users and has a 95% CI of 0.2%–1.0%, so the true multiple could be much smaller or larger. The data are self-reported, end in 2018, and cover adults only.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "authors": "Li J, Somers VK, Xu H, Lopez-Jimenez F, Covassin N",
      "journal": "JAMA",
      "sampleSize": "55,021 adults (20+) across 10 NHANES cycles, 4,865–6,214 per cycle; 296 melatonin users",
      "title": "Trends in Use of Melatonin Supplements Among US Adults, 1999-2018",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2021.23652",
      "year": 2022
    }
  ],
  "method": "The authors pooled ten 2-year cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a nationally representative survey of noninstitutionalized US residents. In a home interview, adults were asked which dietary supplements they had taken in the past 30 days and had to show the containers. Interviewers verified the container for 93.9% of reported melatonin users. Prevalence is survey-weighted, and trends were tested by regression on survey cycle.",
  "chart": {
    "data": [
      {
        "cycle": "1999–2000",
        "value": 0.5
      },
      {
        "cycle": "2001–2002",
        "value": 0.5
      },
      {
        "cycle": "2003–2004",
        "value": 0.3
      },
      {
        "cycle": "2005–2006",
        "value": 0.2
      },
      {
        "cycle": "2007–2008",
        "value": 0.5
      },
      {
        "cycle": "2009–2010",
        "value": 0.4
      },
      {
        "cycle": "2011–2012",
        "value": 0.6
      },
      {
        "cycle": "2013–2014",
        "value": 1.3
      },
      {
        "cycle": "2015–2016",
        "value": 2
      },
      {
        "cycle": "2017–2018",
        "value": 2.1
      }
    ],
    "note": "Table, \"Women\" row (weighted %). Overall per-cycle values appear only in the paper's Figure, so they are not charted. The overall endpoints in the claim (0.4% and 2.1%) are from the Results text. Men followed the same path, from 0.4% to 2.1% (Table, \"Men\" row).",
    "title": "Share of US women reporting melatonin use, by survey cycle",
    "type": "line",
    "unit": "%",
    "x": "cycle",
    "y": "value",
    "yLabel": "Used melatonin in past 30 days (weighted %)"
  },
  "dataset": null,
  "ranking": null,
  "related": [
    "https://karelbusta.dev/data/sleep/sleep-duration-has-not-declined",
    "https://karelbusta.dev/data/sleep/latest-bedtime-at-20",
    "https://karelbusta.dev/data/sleep/kids-told-to-sleep-more-for-100-years"
  ]
}