B Vitamins and CoQ10 help prevent migraines

Dear Reader, ... in an e-Alert about migraine headaches ("Power to the Powerhouses" ), I mentioned in passing that riboflavin has been shown to help prevent migraines.  Now I've come across a new study that confirms previous research with promising results and useful information for migraine sufferers.

B Vitamins

Riboflavin
 �?also known as vitamin B-2 �?is an "essential" vitamin; that is, the body doesn't produce the vitamin on its own, and yet it's indispensable to good health, so it must be provided in the diet. Riboflavin assists in the metabolism of energy by processing protein, fats and carbohydrates. Benefits of riboflavin intake include healthy vision and skin, and (as already mentioned) a possible preventive effect against migraines.

As reported in the European Journal of Neurology, researchers at the Humboldt University of Berlin recruited 23 people (aged 20 to 65) who experienced frequent migraine headaches. All of the subjects took 400 mg of riboflavin for six months. Questionnaires recorded the subjects' rates of migraine frequency, duration, intensity and the use of analgesic drugs at the outset of the trial, after three months, and again at six months.

At the mid-point of the trial, the average frequency of migraines had been cut in half for the entire group. Not surprisingly, the rate of analgesic usage was nearly cut in half as well. These two measures stayed the same throughout the remainder of the trial, neither improving nor worsening. Over the course of the trial, subjects reported no change in the duration or intensity of headaches that still occurred. The 400 mg dose of riboflavin used in the study is considered high, but none of the subjects reported any adverse reactions.

Foods With Riboflavin
Foods that contain good amounts of riboflavin include leafy green vegetables, whole grains, meat, eggs, yogurt, cheese and milk. Alcohol consumption and oral contraceptives may help cause riboflavin deficiency.

Excellent enzyme:  Riboflavin is not always efficiently absorbed by the digestive tract, so anyone who puts it to use for migraine prevention may also want to try other natural preventive agents such as magnesium (many migraine patients have been shown to have magnesium deficiencies), and feverfew, an herbal anti-inflammatory. But the biggest preventive boost may come from coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), which is believed to help prevent migraines by promoting proper respiration on the cellular level.

In the June e-Alert I mentioned above, I told you about a Swiss study in which researchers enrolled 42 migraine patients to receive either 100 mg of CoQ10 three times each day, or a placebo. For one month all of the subjects received a placebo. Then, for the next three months, 21 received CoQ10 daily, while 21 continued with the placebo. Subjects agreed to not use any other methods to prevent migraines during the study period.  

The results were dramatic. Researchers found that migraine frequency, total days with migraine, and total days with nausea were all significantly reduced in the CoQ10 group, compared to placebo. Overall, the incidence of migraines was almost cut in half in the CoQ10 group, while the reduction of migraines in the placebo group was less than 15 percent.

In another study, 32 migraine patients each received 150 mg per day of CoQ10 for three months. In the month before the study began, the group experienced an average of more than seven days of migraine each. But by the end of the study that monthly average had dropped to just under three days. About 60 percent of the subjects reported that their incidence of migraines was less than half of what it had been before the study.

As with the riboflavin study, no adverse side effects were reported in either of the CoQ10 studies.

Serious business

As most people who suffer from migraines are probably aware, a migraine is not just a very bad headache. In fact, a migraine is just one symptom of a larger problem �?a neurological and vascular disorder with additional symptoms, such as nausea, auras (flashes of light or blurred vision), vomiting, numbness of limbs and speech impairment. And if migraines go untreated, they can sometimes lead to more serious conditions, including permanent loss of vision, strokes, aneurysms, coma and even death.

Those who get chronic migraines should discuss their condition with a doctor or a health care professional who can monitor their progress �?especially if riboflavin, CoQ10 or any other preventive supplements are being taken.

To Your Good Health, Jenny Thompson, Health Sciences Institute

Sources: 
"High-Dose Riboflavin Treatment is Efficacious in Migraine Prophylaxis: An Open Study in a Tertiary Care Centre" European Journal of Neurology, Vol. 11, No. 7, July 2004, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

"Vitamin B May Prevent Migraines" NutraIngredients.com, 9/10/04, nutraingredients.com

"A Randomized Controlled Trial of Coenzyme Q10 in Migraine
Prophylaxis" Abstract S43.004, American Academy of Neurology
Annual Meeting, 4/28/04, abstracts2view.com/aan
"Open Label Trial of Coenzyme Q10 as a Migraine Preventive"
Cephalalgia, Vol. 22, No. 2, 3/22/02, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
"Cosupplementation with Vitamin E and Coenzyme Q10 Reduces
Circulating Markers of Inflammation in Baboons" American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 80, No. 3, September 2004,
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov 
"CoQ10 Boosts Vitamin E's Anti-Inflammatory Action"