Melatonin has been shown by a number of studies to significantly inhibit breast cancer in animals and tissue cultures. Preliminary studies in two new independent research programmes suggest a link between meditative practice and increased melatonin as measured by the major metabolite (six-sulphatoxy-melatonin) in the urine.

In the first study of its kind, Ann Massion and others at the University of Massachusetts Medical Centre recorded the difference between melatonin levels of eight experienced meditators and a control group of eight non-meditators. They found a higher level of melatonin in meditators than in non-meditators.

Neuroscientist Ranjie Singh at Saybrook Institute, Western Ontario Research Park, used a similar technique in a study of 12 healthy meditators and another three with cancer. He sought to learn if a combination of mantra intonations, visualization, specialised breathing and deep meditation could stimulate the pineal gland, as measured by melatonin. When differences in urinary levels on a single day were compared before and after practice of the combined techniques, all subjects showed increases in melatonin, varying between seven and 1,000 per cent.

Based on these results, Singh suggested that endogenous stimulation of the pineal should be ultimately healthier and more effective than ingestion of melatonin tablets, which only temporarily increases melatonin. He is now measuring tumour size changes in cancer patients who are using the technique daily. The team at the University of Massachusetts has launched a long-term study of the effect of meditation on women with early stage breast cancer.

Italian physician Paolo Lissoni has achieved intriguing results in administering 40-milligram daily doses of melatonin to cancer patients with advanced tumours and life expectancies of less than six months. His work was described by William Regelson in the June 1996 issue of Let's Live.