Pomegranate Juice Consumption Improves Sleep Quality and Melatonin Concentration of Patients With Opioid Use Disorders Under Medication-Assisted Treatment With Methadone and Buprenorphine: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background and aims: Patients under medication-assisted treatment (MAT) with methadone and buprenorphine experience sleep disturbances related to drug addiction, which are risk factors for craving and relapse to opioids. Plants such as pomegranate, due to their ingredients, appear to act therapeutically ameliorating symptoms of sleep disorders. Thus, the aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of pomegranate juice on sleep quality and melatonin concentration of patients under MAT.

Methods: In total, 58 volunteers were included in the present investigation. They were divided into the experimental group (n = 40), comprising patients under MAT who were administered with pomegranate juice (dosage: 250 ml/day, 7 days/week, 120 days) and the control group (n = 18) with MAT patients without juice consumption. These groups were further stratified based on MAT, namely, methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) and buprenorphine maintenance treatment (BMT). Melatonin concentration was measured in saliva and sleep quality was assessed through the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index at the 1st, 60th, and 120th day.

Results: Melatonin concentration was increased in both MMT and BMT patients at the 120th day due to pomegranate juice consumption compared with that in the control. Furthermore, the applied nutritional intervention improved sleep quality only in the MMT patients at the 120th day, whereas sleep quality of MMT patients was compromised compared with those under BMT in the control group.

Conclusions: The obtained findings indicate that pomegranate could be considered as an auxiliary intervention, in parallel with medication, toward rehabilitation of patients under MAT.