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26.09.2015

Magnesium, vitamin B2 and co-enzyme Q10 combo soothes migraine

A supplement containing magnesium, vitamin B2 and the co-enzyme Q10 offers some protection against migraine. According to neurologists at University Hospital Essen in Germany, the supplement doesn't reduce the number of days that a migraine lasts, but it does reduce the severity of an attack. The researchers write about it in the Journal of Headache and Pain.

Migraine
People who suffer from migraine have lower amounts of magnesium, vitamin B2 (aka riboflavin) and the co-enzyme Q10 in their blood than healthy people do. As a result the mitochondria in the brain cells cannot function optimally, which leads to a migraine. At least, that's what neurologists think happens. Several studies have shown that supplementation with magnesium or with vitamin B2 or Q10 can soften the effects of migraine.

The German company Weber & Weber Gmbh put these ingredients into Migravent, a supplement marketed for migraine relief. In the US it's sold as Dolovent. The substances the supplement contains are listed on the right.

Study
The researchers gave 46 migraine sufferers 4 capsules a day of the supplement for three months, and got the subjects to keep a record of the frequency and severity of their headaches. A group of approximately the same size was given a placebo. The subjects were aged 18-65.

Results
The subjects who took the supplement recorded a decline in the number of days that they suffered from migraine, but the same was the case for the placebo group too.

Blue line = placebo group; red line = Migravent group.

The subjects were asked to score the amount of pain they experience during a migraine attack on a three-point scale. The figure below shows that the supplement reduced the amount of pain significantly.

The researchers also asked the subjects to score the effect of the capsules they had taken. The figure above shows that the subjects who had taken Migravent gave significantly better scores than the subjects in the control group.

Conclusion
The neurologists admit that the experimental set-up was not optimal. The subjects were given a hefty amount of vitamin B2, which probably caused urine discolouration. As a result of this, a number of subjects in the experimental group probably had a pretty good idea that they had been given active ingredients.

The study was financed by Weber & Weber, the manufacturer of the supplement that was being tested. In addition, one of the researchers was employed by the company.

Source:
J Headache Pain. 2015 Dec;16:516.

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Q10 and L-carnitine effective against migraine Supplementation with 30 milligrams of Q10 and 500 milligrams of L-carnitine per day can drastically improve the lives of people with migraine.	Less migraine with 80 mg vitamin B6 daily According to this study, which was published in the Iranian Journal of Neurology, vitamin B6 not only reduces the severity but also the duration of migraine attacks.	Magnesium supplement prevents migraine Neurologists at Kaiser Permanente in the US reported that magnesium supplements reduce the number of days that young patients suffer from headache by over forty percent.