The effect of melatonin supplementation on the plasma levels of 2-arachidonoylglycerol, ghrelin and hedonic eating intensity in overweight/obese females: A study protocol for a pilot randomized controlled trial

What Was Tested

This clinical study looks at Ghrelin.

Hedonic eating, reward-driven eating rather than out of biological needs, has been proposed as one of the important causes of overweight and obesity in recent years.

The trial was registered with the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials in June 2023 under the ID number IRCT20080904001197N22.

Who Took Part

PubMed indexes the participants as young adults, adults and middle-aged adults, women only.

In a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study, forty-six women with overweight/obesity and high hedonic eating intensity (total score of power of food scale > 2.5) will be recruited.

A one-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) will be used to detect the effect of melatonin supplementation on outcome variables.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and pilot.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Ghrelin and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

As a double-blind Ghrelin study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

Some participants received a placebo instead of Ghrelin, giving a reference point.

It is described as a pilot, a small early test of whether a larger Ghrelin study would be practical.

The primary outcomes, including the plasma levels of 2-arachidonylglycerol and ghrelin, and the intensity of hedonic eating will be assessed at the baseline and end of the study.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Arachidonic Acids, Dietary Supplements, Eating, Endocannabinoids, Feeding Behavior, Ghrelin and Glycerides.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Ghrelin.

Its findings take up roughly 1 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2025 (PloS one), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Ghrelin compound page, all human trials.