Melatonin: Food Sources, Tart Cherries & What Sleep Research Shows

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Melatonin is a hormone produced naturally by the human body and released primarily during the biological night. Rather than simply being a “sleep hormone,” melatonin is better understood as an important signal of darkness and circadian timing.

Melatonin also occurs naturally in foods. Researchers have measured it in tart cherries, grapes, nuts, cereals, tomatoes, and numerous other plant and animal foods.

This dietary connection has generated particular interest in Montmorency tart cherries and sleep. Several small human trials have reported changes in sleep measurements after tart-cherry beverages or concentrates, and some have also measured changes in melatonin or its metabolites.

But the scientific distinction is essential: melatonin produced by the human body, melatonin measured in fruit, purified melatonin supplements, and a complex tart-cherry preparation are not interchangeable interventions.

For FruitFast, tart-cherry sleep research is relevant to the source fruit. It does not establish a particular melatonin concentration or sleep effect for a finished FruitFast product without appropriate product-specific testing.

The Short Answer

Melatonin is a hormone involved in circadian timing that is produced primarily at night under control of the body's internal clock and light-dark cycle.

It is also naturally present in certain foods, including tart cherries.

A classic laboratory analysis detected melatonin in both Montmorency and Balaton tart cherries, with considerably different concentrations between the two cultivars. Other food-composition studies demonstrate that dietary melatonin varies widely by plant species, cultivar, growing conditions, maturity, storage, and analytical method.

Human trials of tart-cherry preparations have reported some favorable objective sleep measurements, but the research is small and heterogeneous. Modern reviews also emphasize that melatonin may not be the only relevant compound or mechanism.

Food-level melatonin exposure should not be treated as equivalent to taking a purified melatonin supplement measured in milligrams.

What Is Melatonin?

Melatonin is an indoleamine hormone produced in humans and other organisms.

In humans, the pineal gland is one of the principal sources of circulating melatonin.

Melatonin secretion follows a strong daily rhythm:

• levels are generally low during the biological daytime;
• production increases as the biological night begins;
• secretion remains elevated for part of the night; and
• levels decline again as the biological morning approaches.

This pattern is controlled by the body's circadian timing system, with the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus acting as a central clock.

Environmental light is a major timing signal. Light exposure at night can suppress or shift melatonin secretion depending on timing, intensity, wavelength, duration, and individual sensitivity.

Is Melatonin Really the “Sleep Hormone”?

The phrase “sleep hormone” is convenient but incomplete.

Melatonin is more accurately described as an important hormonal signal of biological darkness.

Its nightly rhythm helps communicate information about environmental and internal time to tissues throughout the body.

Melatonin also has chronobiotic effects, meaning appropriately timed melatonin can influence the phase of the circadian system.

But melatonin is not itself the sole controller of sleep.

Sleep is regulated by interacting systems that include:

• circadian timing;
• homeostatic sleep pressure;
• brain networks regulating wakefulness and sleep;
• light exposure;
• behavior;
• environment;
• medical and psychological factors; and
• numerous other biological signals.

How Does the Body Make Melatonin?

Human melatonin biosynthesis begins with the essential amino acid tryptophan.

A simplified pathway is:

This pathway is one reason food and sleep research can become complicated.

A food might contain:

• melatonin itself;
• tryptophan;
• serotonin;
• polyphenols;
• carbohydrates;
• vitamins and minerals; and
• other compounds that could influence metabolism or sleep-related physiology.

Therefore, an increase in circulating melatonin after a food is eaten does not necessarily prove that every measured increase came directly from intact melatonin originally present in that food.

Body Melatonin vs. Food Melatonin vs. Melatonin Supplements

Research involving these exposures should not be combined as though they were the same.

Food Melatonin vs. Melatonin Supplements

The difference in scale is particularly important.

Food-composition studies frequently report melatonin in units such as nanograms per gram, while purified supplement doses are commonly discussed in milligrams.

Those units represent very different exposure ranges.

That means finding melatonin in a fruit does not justify describing a serving of that fruit as equivalent to taking a melatonin tablet.

Likewise, findings from clinical trials of purified supplemental melatonin should not automatically become claims about tart cherries or fruit juice concentrate.

What Foods Contain Melatonin?

Melatonin has been identified in a wide variety of foods.

Reported dietary sources include:

• tart and sweet cherries;
• grapes;
• pistachios and other nuts;
• rice, oats, barley, wheat, and other cereals;
• tomatoes;
• peppers;
• mushrooms;
• germinated seeds and legumes;
• eggs and certain animal foods; and
• numerous other foods studied analytically.

However, reported concentrations vary enormously.

Differences can result from:

• species;
• cultivar;
• plant tissue;
• growing environment;
• light conditions;
• maturity;
• harvest timing;
• storage;
• processing;
• extraction technique; and
• analytical method.

For this reason, internet lists ranking the “highest melatonin foods” should be interpreted cautiously unless the studies being compared used compatible analytical methods.

Which Fruit Has the Most Melatonin?

There is no single scientifically established fruit ranking that applies universally.

Tart cherries receive considerable attention because melatonin has been directly measured in them and because several human intervention studies have examined tart-cherry preparations and sleep.

But the amount of melatonin measured in one tart-cherry cultivar or harvest should not be treated as the universal melatonin concentration of every tart cherry.

Likewise, “most researched” and “highest concentration” are different claims.

Do Tart Cherries Contain Melatonin?

Yes. Melatonin has been analytically detected in tart cherries.

A frequently cited 2001 study measured melatonin in fresh-frozen Montmorency and Balaton tart cherries.

The researchers reported:

• Montmorency: 13.46 ± 1.10 ng/g; and
• Balaton: 2.06 ± 0.17 ng/g.

The Montmorency samples in that particular study therefore contained considerably more melatonin than the Balaton samples.

More broadly, food-composition reviews demonstrate that melatonin concentrations can vary greatly across plants and analytical studies.

Does Concentrating Tart Cherry Juice Concentrate the Melatonin Too?

It cannot be assumed from Brix or from the concentration of fruit solids alone.

Concentration removes water, but the final amount of melatonin in a finished product can also depend on:

• starting-fruit melatonin concentration;
• cultivar;
• starting juice composition;
• fruit tissue entering the juice;
• pressing and extraction;
• clarification and filtration;
• temperature;
• oxygen and light exposure;
• concentration conditions;
• storage;
• age of the product; and
• analytical method.

Without finished-product testing, the melatonin concentration of raw cherries should not be multiplied by a concentration factor and assigned to a finished juice concentrate.

Brix does not measure melatonin.

Tart Cherry & Sleep Research: What Have Human Studies Found?

Tart-cherry sleep research is scientifically interesting, but the evidence base remains relatively small.

Studies differ in:

• participant age;
• whether participants had insomnia;
• cherry cultivar;
• juice, concentrate, powder, or beverage preparation;
• dose;
• timing;
• duration;
• placebo composition;
• sleep measurement technique; and
• outcomes reported.

Those differences matter when interpreting the results.

2012 Montmorency Tart-Cherry Concentrate Trial

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial included 20 healthy adults.

Participants consumed either a tart-cherry juice concentrate preparation or placebo for seven days.

Researchers measured urinary 6-sulfatoxymelatonin, a major melatonin metabolite, as well as sleep using actigraphy and questionnaires.

The tart-cherry intervention increased total urinary melatonin content compared with baseline and placebo.

The researchers also reported increases in:

• time in bed;
• total sleep time; and
• sleep efficiency.

There was no significant shift in the timing of the melatonin circadian rhythm.

This study provides evidence that the specific tart-cherry concentrate tested affected melatonin-related and sleep measurements in this small group.

It does not establish a particular effect for every tart-cherry concentrate or prove that melatonin alone caused the sleep findings.

2010 Pilot Trial in Older Adults with Insomnia

A randomized, double-blind crossover pilot study included 15 older adults with chronic insomnia.

Participants consumed a proprietary tart-cherry juice beverage and placebo during separate two-week treatment periods.

Compared with placebo, the tart-cherry beverage significantly reduced certain insomnia-severity measurements, including time awake after sleep onset.

But placebo-adjusted differences were not significant for:

• sleep latency;
• total sleep time; or
• sleep efficiency.

This is a useful reminder that a study can contain both favorable and null findings.

2018 Tart-Cherry Juice Pilot Trial

Another randomized crossover study enrolled older adults with insomnia.

Eleven participants were randomized; three were excluded after sleep apnea was identified, leaving eight completers.

Participants consumed 240 mL of tart-cherry juice twice daily or placebo for two weeks.

Polysomnography showed an approximately 84-minute increase in total sleep time during the cherry condition, and one Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index sleep-efficiency measure also improved.

Other questionnaire outcomes were not significantly different.

Importantly, the investigators did not explain the findings solely through melatonin.

They also investigated:

• tryptophan availability;
• the kynurenine pathway;
• procyanidin B-2;
• anthocyanins; and
• other possible mechanisms.

What Do Systematic Reviews Say About Tart Cherries & Sleep?

The broader literature is promising but not conclusive.

2023 Systematic Review & Meta-Analysis

A 2023 systematic review included eight studies of tart cherries and sleep that were judged to have low-to-moderate methodological quality.

The pooled analysis found:

• a significant difference favoring tart cherry for objective sleep efficiency;
• a significant difference favoring tart cherry for objective total sleep time;
• no significant pooled difference for subjective sleep efficiency; and
• no significant pooled difference for subjective total sleep time.

Heterogeneity for the objective total-sleep-time result was high.

The authors concluded that more research is needed to establish durability and the exact mechanism.

2025 Tart-Cherry Systematic Review

A 2025 review identified seven interventional studies.

Three studies reported significant improvement in one or more sleep indicators, and three reported increases in melatonin after tart-cherry consumption.

However, the review emphasized substantial variation in dose, duration, study population, and methodology.

The authors concluded that the evidence remained limited and heterogeneous and called for larger, better-designed clinical trials.

2026 Review of Melatonin-Containing Foods

A 2026 scoping review examined 19 studies: 14 intervention trials and five cross-sectional studies involving melatonin-containing foods.

Foods studied included Montmorency tart cherries, other cherries, tomatoes, kiwifruit, and other dietary sources.

The review reported possible improvements in sleep quality, duration, or efficiency in some studies, particularly among people experiencing sleep disturbances.

But the findings remained heterogeneous because studies differed substantially in:

• population;
• food;
• melatonin exposure;
• timing of intake;
• intervention duration; and
• sleep-assessment method.

This newer literature reinforces a careful conclusion:

Is Tart-Cherry Sleep Research Really Melatonin Research?

Not necessarily.

Tart cherries contain a chemically complex mixture that can include:

• melatonin;
• tryptophan;
• serotonin-related compounds;
• anthocyanins;
• procyanidin-related compounds;
• flavonols;
• phenolic acids;
• organic acids;
• sugars;
• minerals; and
• many other plant constituents.

A trial using tart-cherry juice therefore tests the whole preparation.

Unless a study isolates melatonin as the intervention or specifically demonstrates a causal pathway, the study should not automatically be described as proof that “the melatonin in cherries caused better sleep.”

Does Tart Cherry Juice Cure Insomnia?

No conclusion that strong is supported by the evidence.

Small pilot trials have studied tart-cherry beverages in adults with insomnia and have reported some favorable sleep measurements.

But these studies:

• included small numbers of participants;
• used particular study products;
• were relatively short;
• did not show significant improvement in every sleep outcome; and
• have not established tart cherry as a treatment for chronic insomnia.

People with persistent insomnia or another suspected sleep disorder should seek appropriate medical evaluation rather than relying on a food or supplement as a substitute for diagnosis and treatment.

Melatonin Supplements Are a Different Research Topic

Purified melatonin supplements provide defined doses that can be many orders of magnitude different from the amount naturally measured in an ordinary serving of fruit.

Supplement research also depends strongly on timing.

Because melatonin is a circadian signal, taking purified melatonin at different biological times can produce different effects on circadian phase and sleep timing.

This is fundamentally different from asking whether a food naturally containing small amounts of melatonin belongs in a normal diet.

What About Supplemental Melatonin for Chronic Insomnia?

Supplemental melatonin is widely marketed for sleep, but recommendations depend on the sleep problem being addressed.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine's 2017 pharmacologic guideline suggested that clinicians not use melatonin for sleep-onset or sleep-maintenance insomnia in adults, based on the evidence evaluated by that guideline.

The recommendation was graded as weak, reflecting limitations in the underlying evidence.

That guideline does not mean melatonin has no circadian applications, nor does it evaluate tart cherries as foods.

It does demonstrate why the broad claim “melatonin treats insomnia” is too simplistic.

Melatonin, Circadian Timing & Jet Lag

Supplemental melatonin has also been studied in circadian-rhythm situations such as jet lag and in people whose internal clocks do not synchronize normally with the light-dark cycle.

These applications depend heavily on timing and involve purified melatonin rather than dietary melatonin from fruit.

For that reason, clinical evidence involving supplemental melatonin for jet lag should not become a claim that eating tart cherries or drinking tart-cherry juice prevents jet lag.

Is Melatonin an Antioxidant?

Melatonin demonstrates antioxidant and redox-related activity in experimental systems and is involved in a wide range of cellular processes.

But three separate scientific questions should not be confused:

• What does melatonin produced inside the body do?
• What does a pharmacological dose of purified melatonin do?
• What happens after a person consumes a food containing a much smaller amount of melatonin?

An antioxidant mechanism demonstrated using purified melatonin should not automatically be converted into a claim that a tart-cherry food provides systemic antioxidant protection because it contains melatonin.

Learn more about this distinction in our Antioxidants, Free Radicals & Oxidative Stress guide.

How Processing & Storage Can Affect Melatonin

The amount of melatonin measured in a finished fruit product can depend on the starting fruit and on what happens after harvest.

Relevant variables include:

• cultivar — different cherry varieties can have very different measured concentrations;
• fruit maturity;
• harvest conditions;
• pressing and extraction;
• clarification and filtration;
• temperature;
• light exposure;
• oxygen exposure;
• concentration process;
• storage time and temperature; and
• analytical method.

A value reported for fresh-frozen cherries therefore cannot simply be assigned to juice, dried cherries, cherry powder, gummies, concentrate, or another processed product.

Does FruitFast Tart Cherry Juice Concentrate Contain Melatonin?

Tart cherries are a documented dietary source of naturally occurring melatonin, so melatonin is scientifically relevant to the source fruit used in tart-cherry products.

However, FruitFast should not state a particular melatonin amount in its finished Tart Cherry Juice Concentrate unless the finished product has been specifically tested using an appropriate analytical method.

Likewise, published values from fresh Montmorency cherries or a researcher's tart-cherry concentrate should not be assigned to FruitFast concentrate.

Without finished-product data, FruitFast should also avoid claims such as:

• “high in melatonin”;
• “rich in melatonin”;
• “provides a natural melatonin dose”;
• “equivalent to a melatonin supplement”; or
• a specific milligram or microgram melatonin amount.

Does Higher Brix Mean More Melatonin?

No.

Brix measures soluble solids. It does not measure melatonin.

A higher-Brix juice concentrate may contain more soluble material per unit volume than its starting juice, but Brix cannot determine:

• melatonin concentration;
• anthocyanin concentration;
• polyphenol concentration;
• tryptophan concentration; or
• sleep-related biological activity.

Compound-specific analytical testing is required for a quantitative melatonin claim.

How Is Melatonin Measured in Foods?

Melatonin occurs at relatively low concentrations in many foods, making analytical method particularly important.

Methods used in food and biological research can include:

• high-performance liquid chromatography, or HPLC;
• liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry;
• tandem mass spectrometry;
• fluorescence-based detection;
• immunoassay methods in some biological applications; and
• measurement of metabolites such as urinary 6-sulfatoxymelatonin in human studies.

Different analytical methods can produce different results, particularly when concentrations are very low.

For this reason, food-composition numbers should be compared only after considering sample preparation, assay specificity, units, detection limits, and validation.

Is Dietary Melatonin Safe?

Melatonin naturally occurs in ordinary foods.

Exposure from foods should be distinguished from concentrated supplemental melatonin.

Supplemental melatonin can produce pharmacological exposures and may interact with an individual's medications, health conditions, pregnancy status, age, circadian timing, or other factors.

People considering concentrated melatonin supplements—particularly those who are pregnant, breastfeeding, taking medications, managing a medical condition, or experiencing persistent sleep problems—should discuss individual questions with an appropriate healthcare professional.

Frequently Asked Questions About Melatonin in Foods & Tart Cherries

How to Evaluate Tart-Cherry & Melatonin Research

When reading a study involving melatonin or tart cherries, first identify exactly what researchers tested.

A study may involve:

• endogenous human melatonin;
• purified supplemental melatonin;
• fresh tart cherries;
• tart-cherry juice;
• tart-cherry concentrate;
• tart-cherry powder or capsules;
• a multi-ingredient beverage or supplement;
• urinary melatonin metabolites;
• a cell-culture experiment; or
• an animal model.

Those are not interchangeable.

It is also useful to consider:

• Intervention identity — Was the study actually testing melatonin or a complex food?
• Melatonin measurement — Was the amount in the food chemically measured?
• Cultivar — Montmorency, Balaton, another tart cherry, or an unspecified blend?
• Dose — Food quantity, concentrate volume, or milligrams of purified melatonin?
• Timing — Morning, evening, twice daily, or relative to biological night?
• Population — Healthy adults, athletes, older adults, or participants with insomnia?
• Study duration — A few days or a longer intervention?
• Sleep measurement — Questionnaire, diary, actigraphy, or polysomnography?
• Other compounds — Did the food also contain anthocyanins, procyanidins, tryptophan, sugars, or other constituents?
• Outcome — Melatonin metabolite, sleep latency, total sleep time, sleep efficiency, subjective sleep quality, or clinical diagnosis?

An increase in urinary melatonin, a change in actigraphy, improvement on one questionnaire, and treatment of chronic insomnia represent very different levels of evidence.

FruitFast Fruit Connected to This Research

The product below is relevant because tart cherries are a documented dietary source of melatonin and have been studied in human sleep research. This link is provided as fruit/product navigation—not as a claim that the finished FruitFast product contains a specific quantified melatonin dose or reproduces the sleep outcomes reported in another research preparation.

Tart Cherry Juice Concentrate →
Tart cherries contain melatonin alongside anthocyanins, flavonols, phenolic acids, procyanidin-related compounds, organic acids, and other naturally occurring fruit constituents.

Continue Exploring Tart Cherries & Fruit Research

Anthocyanins →
Explore the red and purple flavonoid pigments found in tart cherries and many other deeply colored fruits.

Polyphenols in Fruit →
See how anthocyanins, flavonols, tannins, phenolic acids, and other fruit compounds fit together.

Antioxidants, Free Radicals & Oxidative Stress →
Understand why laboratory antioxidant activity should not automatically be interpreted as a demonstrated human health effect.

FruitFast Research & Studies →
Browse human and laboratory research related to tart cherries, berries, fruit compounds, and nutrition.

Fruit Compound Library →
Browse FruitFast educational guides to pigments, polyphenols, nutrients, melatonin, and other naturally occurring compounds.

Health Information & Fruit Nutrition Research →
Explore the broader FruitFast research and nutrition library.

Scientific References & Sources

The publications below are provided so readers can examine melatonin physiology, dietary sources, tart-cherry composition, human sleep trials, systematic reviews, and clinical guidance. Findings involving endogenous melatonin, purified supplements, individual foods, tart-cherry research preparations, metabolites, or specific patient populations should not automatically be applied to another food or FruitFast product.

1. Macchi MM, Bruce JN. Human pineal physiology and functional significance of melatonin. Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology. 2004;25(3-4):177-195. doi:10.1016/j.yfrne.2004.08.001. PMID: 15589268.

2. Pevet P, Challet E, Felder-Schmittbuhl MP. Melatonin and the circadian system: Keys for health with a focus on sleep. Handbook of Clinical Neurology. 2021;179:331-343. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-819975-6.00021-2. PMID: 34225973.

3. Burkhardt S, Tan DX, Manchester LC, Hardeland R, Reiter RJ. Detection and quantification of the antioxidant melatonin in Montmorency and Balaton tart cherries (Prunus cerasus). Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 2001;49(10):4898-4902. doi:10.1021/jf010321+. PMID: 11600041.

4. Meng X, Li Y, Li S, Zhou Y, Gan RY, Xu DP, Li HB. Dietary Sources and Bioactivities of Melatonin. Nutrients. 2017;9(4):367. doi:10.3390/nu9040367. PMID: 28387721.

5. Pereira N, Naufel MF, Ribeiro EB, Tufik S, Hachul H. Influence of Dietary Sources of Melatonin on Sleep Quality: A Review. Journal of Food Science. 2020;85(1):5-13. doi:10.1111/1750-3841.14952. PMID: 31856339.

6. Howatson G, Bell PG, Tallent J, Middleton B, McHugh MP, Ellis J. Effect of tart cherry juice (Prunus cerasus) on melatonin levels and enhanced sleep quality. European Journal of Nutrition. 2012;51(8):909-916. doi:10.1007/s00394-011-0263-7. PMID: 22038497.

7. Pigeon WR, Carr M, Gorman C, Perlis ML. Effects of a tart cherry juice beverage on the sleep of older adults with insomnia: a pilot study. Journal of Medicinal Food. 2010;13(3):579-583. doi:10.1089/jmf.2009.0096. PMID: 20438325.

8. Losso JN, Finley JW, Karki N, et al. Pilot Study of the Tart Cherry Juice for the Treatment of Insomnia and Investigation of Mechanisms. American Journal of Therapeutics. 2018;25(2):e194-e201. doi:10.1097/MJT.0000000000000584. PMID: 28901958.

9. Stretton B, Eranki A, Kovoor J, et al. Too Sour to be True? Tart Cherries (Prunus cerasus) and Sleep: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Current Sleep Medicine Reports. 2023;9:225-233. doi:10.1007/s40675-023-00261-w.

10. Barforoush F, Ebrahimi S, Karimian Abdar M, Khademi S, Morshedzadeh N. The Effect of Tart Cherry on Sleep Quality and Sleep Disorders: A Systematic Review. Food Science & Nutrition. 2025;13(9):e70923. doi:10.1002/fsn3.70923. PMID: 40964149.

11. Nisar T, Fuller A, Gyawali P, Bird S. Effectiveness of Melatonin-Containing Foods on Promoting Sleep: A Scoping Review. Food Science & Nutrition. 2026;14(5):e71823. doi:10.1002/fsn3.71823. PMID: 42058225.

12. Sateia MJ, Buysse DJ, Krystal AD, Neubauer DN, Heald JL. Clinical Practice Guideline for the Pharmacologic Treatment of Chronic Insomnia in Adults: An American Academy of Sleep Medicine Clinical Practice Guideline. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. 2017;13(2):307-349. doi:10.5664/jcsm.6470. PMID: 27998379.

About This Guide

This page is provided for general educational purposes. Research involving endogenous melatonin, purified melatonin supplements, fresh cherries, tart-cherry juices, concentrates, powders, metabolites, sleep biomarkers, or specific clinical populations should not be assumed to establish the same effect for another food, product, or individual.

References to naturally occurring melatonin in tart cherries describe measurements reported in the fruit or preparation actually studied and should not be interpreted as quantitative claims about FruitFast Tart Cherry Juice Concentrate unless the finished product has been specifically analyzed.

Human research involving specific tart-cherry preparations should not be interpreted as proof that melatonin alone caused the reported outcome or that FruitFast Tart Cherry Juice Concentrate reproduces that outcome.

Research involving purified supplemental melatonin should not be interpreted as evidence that a food provides the same dose, pharmacological exposure, circadian effect, or clinical outcome.

This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease and should not be interpreted as medical advice.