Quantity of Melatonin and CBD in Melatonin Gummies Sold in the US.
If melatonin gummies routinely contain more than the label says — and some contain CBD — is there a form or brand you would actually recommend for my child, or should we not use it?
Suggestive but preliminary. Not settled. how we score evidence
Caveat on this rating: The authors state their own limits: only 25 products, one sample per brand, gummies only, and no test of whether tablets and capsules behave the same or whether a given brand varies batch to batch. It measures label accuracy, not clinical harm.
In the United States melatonin is sold over the counter as a dietary supplement under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA).
Of 25 US melatonin gummy products analysed, 22 (88%) were inaccurately labelled and only 3 (12%) contained melatonin within 10% of the declared amount; measured content ranged from 74% to 347% of the label, one product labelled 3 mg contained 10.4 mg, and one product contained no detectable melatonin at all but 31.3 mg of CBD. Serotonin was not detected in any product. The authors calculate that a child taking these gummies as directed could receive 40 to 130 times the 0.1-0.3 mg needed to raise blood melatonin into the normal night-time range.
Worth asking
If melatonin gummies routinely contain more than the label says — and some contain CBD — is there a form or brand you would actually recommend for my child, or should we not use it?
Source
Quantity of Melatonin and CBD in Melatonin Gummies Sold in the US. — Cohen PA, Avula B, Wang YH, Katragunta K, Khan I. (2023)
Top-tier peer-reviewed journal
Read the source: https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2023.2296
DOI: 10.1001/jama.2023.2296
How this was scored
- Study design
- Cross-sectional study / survey
- Funding
- Funding not disclosed
- Published in
- Top-tier peer-reviewed journal
- Sample size
- 25
- Preregistered
- No
- Conflicts disclosed
- Yes
- Independent of proponent
- Yes
- Retracted
- No
Read the full scoring rubric, including what it can't tell you.
Published August 19, 2026.
Where we put this study in context
Questions
How strong is the evidence behind this?
Resolv rates this source "early signal". Suggestive but preliminary. Not settled. It scores 49 out of 100 on our published rubric. One caveat travels with that badge: The authors state their own limits: only 25 products, one sample per brand, gummies only, and no test of whether tablets and capsules behave the same or whether a given brand varies batch to batch. It measures label accuracy, not clinical harm. The score is calculated from recorded facts about the source — study design, funding, publication venue, sample size, preregistration — not typed in by an editor.
What is the source for this?
Quantity of Melatonin and CBD in Melatonin Gummies Sold in the US. — Cohen PA, Avula B, Wang YH, Katragunta K, Khan I. (2023). Published in: Top-tier peer-reviewed journal. DOI: 10.1001/jama.2023.2296. The full source is linked on this page so you can read it yourself.
Who paid for this research, and does that matter?
Study design: Cross-sectional study / survey. Funding: Funding not disclosed. The researchers were independent of whoever benefits from the result. Industry sponsorship is one of the most reliably measured biases in medicine, which is why funding carries real weight in the score rather than sitting in a footnote.
Is melatonin, circadin, slenyto, n-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine, melatonin gummies FDA approved for this use?
No. Its current status is: Not FDA-evaluated for this use. In the United States melatonin is sold over the counter as a dietary supplement under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA).
Is this medical advice?
This is information to bring to your prescriber, not medical advice and not a reason to change anything on your own. Nothing here is an instruction to stop or reduce a medication. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.
This is information to bring to your prescriber, not medical advice and not a reason to change anything on your own. Nothing here is an instruction to stop or reduce a medication. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.