(WXYZ) — In today’s Health Alert, new research raises concerns about a popular sleep aid that many people think is safe and natural. We’re talking about melatonin and whether taking it long-term could affect your heart.

Researchers looked at the medical records of more than 130,000 adults with chronic insomnia. They compared those who took melatonin for a year or longer with those who didn’t. The average age was 55, and over 61% were women.

And here’s what they found — those taking melatonin long-term had about a 90% higher chance of developing heart failure over the next five years. They were also more than three times as likely to end up in the hospital for heart failure, and the risk of death from any cause was nearly doubled.

Now, that sounds alarming, but the study does not prove

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