Can magnesium and riboflavin (vitamin B2) stop those monthly migraines?

If you're told that half the migraine sufferers have a magnesium deficiency, that magnesium is a vascular protective mineral, and that migraine patients also need a small amount of riboflavin, how do you start to test your theory to make sure your not catering to a placebo effect?

If you’re a scientist studying the brains of migraine patients, you first notice a variation (from non-migraine patients). The variation or difference is in specific parts of the energy generators in migraine patients’ brains.

So how do you override the issue with the energy generators in the brains of migraine patients? When you give migraine patients riboflavin (vitamin B2), it helps to regenerate the energy system in their brains. This short circuits the migraine pain, according to page 400 of the book, Healing with Vitamins (Rodale Press) 2008. Vitamin B2’s purpose in the body is to metabolize glucose.

In the past, previous studies of magnesium and feverfew for migraine prevention have found conflicting results. And there has been only a single placebo-controlled trial of riboflavin until the 2004 Kaiser Permanente, Research and Evaluation study in California.

See the study titled, A Combination of Riboflavin, Magnesium, and Feverfew for Migraine Prophylaxis: A Randomized Trial, in Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain, Volume 44, Issue 9, Date: October 2004, Pages: 885-890, Morris Maizels, Andrew Blumenfeld, Raoul Burchette. According to the abstract of the Kaiser study, "Forty-nine patients completed the 3-month trial. For the primary outcome measure, a 50% or greater reduction in migraines, there was no difference between active and 'placebo' groups, achieved by 10 (42%) and 11 (44%), respectively (P= .87)."

The abstract of the study reported, "Similarly, there was no significant difference in secondary outcome measures, for active versus placebo groups, respectively: 50% or greater reduction in migraine days (33% and 40%, P= .63); or change in mean number of migraines, migraine days, migraine index, or triptan doses. Compared to baseline, however, both groups showed a significant reduction in number of migraines, migraine days, and migraine index."

Low-dose vitamin B2, that is, riboflavin's effects exceeded what placebos can show. The abstract of the study noted, "This effect exceeds that reported for placebo agents in previous migraine trials. The conclusion of the study, according to the abstract in Headache, The Journal of Head and Face Pain revealed, “Riboflavin 25 mg showed an effect comparable to a combination of riboflavin 400 mg, magnesium 300 mg, and feverfew 100 mg.”

What about a placebo response? The abstract of the study noted that, “The placebo response exceeds that reported for any other placebo in trials of migraine prophylaxis, and suggests that riboflavin 25 mg may be an active comparator. There is at present conflicting scientific evidence with regard to the efficacy of these compounds for migraine prophylaxis.”

Your body produces energy from carbohydrates. Riboflavin is used for normal red blood cell production and general body growth. It’s found naturally in lean meats, eggs, leafy green vegetables, nuts, legumes, fortified breads and cereals, milk and dairy products. Most people don’t have a deficiency, but why does such a little bit of vitamin B2 (25 mgs) prevent migraine pain when the migraine pain in women might be caused by a drop in estrogen and progesterone each month?

Women's monthly migraines and dropping hormone levels

What about treating monthly migraines in women with hormones or even bio-identical hormones? What do the medical articles say? If you look at medical articles based on studies such as the article titled, "Natural" or Alternative Medications for Migraine Prevention, Randolph W. Evans, Frederick R. Taylor, published in Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain, Volume 46, Issue 6, Pages1012 – 1018, or the article, Ovarian Hormones and Migraine Headache: Understanding Mechanisms and Pathogenesis—Part I, it may help you to understand why so many women get monthly migraines. The abstract of this article notes that, “Ovarian hormones have a significant effect on the central nervous system of female migraineurs.”

Science knows that migraines are frequently triggered during declines in serum estrogen levels that occur before and during the time of menstruation. Short of having your doctor prescribe hormones for your migraines, what natural, drug-free migraine-ending solutions have been studied?

And what about male and female migraine patients studied with vitamin B2? The 2004 study done at Kaiser Permanente in California published in Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain, required that some volunteers take a daily dose of 300 mgs of magnesium along with 400 milligrams of riboflavin. Some also took 100 mgs of the herb, feverfew and others took a lesser amount of riboflavin--25 milligrams of riboflavin, for three months.

What the study found was that those that took the lesser amount of riboflavin--only 25 mgs of riboflavin for three months and those that took both the feverfew and the higher amount of riboflavin, the 400 mgs of riboflavin, had the same results. So it didn’t matter whether someone took 400 mgs of riboflavin (vitamin B2) or whether someone took the lesser amount of riboflavin (25 mgs).

The lesser amount of riboflavin, those 25 mgs of riboflavin, was just as effective that is, worked just as well, as the combination of the higher doses of riboflavin, feverfew, and magnesium. So the conclusion was that 25 mgs of riboflavin could be just as good for preventing migraine headaches.

Don’t take a high amount of riboflavin. Taking B vitamins stimulate the thyroid. And taking one B vitamin without all the other B vitamins taken in a B-complex combination may cause one B vitamin to pull the other B vitamins out of balance in your body or out of your body completely. So always talk with your doctor about what vitamins, minerals, or supplements you are taking.

Are severe migraines helped with a specific, individually tailored amount of magnesium?

People with severe migraines that have been ruled out by a doctor as being caused by anything more serious that needs immediate treatment might consider researching what magnesium could do for them in the right amount. Many health professionals think that migraines may be caused by an imbalance of magnesium to calcium in the body.

Magnesium, in small amounts, is protective to your vascular system. If you keep researching the data on migraines, you’ll find a lot of mentions of how magnesium in small amounts can be of help. The cause of your migraine could be magnesium deficiency. What doctors do know is that migraines are caused by vascular changes.

The blood vessels spasm and reduce oxygen flow. What causes these spasms could be an increase in the stress hormones in your blood, hormones such as catecholamines and serotonin.

The blood circulates either too slowly or too fast. But scientists know that magnesium regulates the diameter of your blood vessels. Can too much serotonin cause a migraine? And what food triggers serotonin? Bananas, for example is one food that could raise your serotonin levels. You want normal serotonin levels, of course. Low serotonin levels are found in depressed people or people with anger management problems and depression.

According to page 402 of Healing with Vitamins, the daily recommended value for magnesium is 400 mgs. The book, Healing with Vitamins, notes, “For people with migraines, experts who suggest magnesium supplements recommend taking 600 milligrams divided into two or three doses.”

Remember that magnesium causes diarrhea if you take too much for your body. So always talk to your doctor before you take any supplements. Sugary desserts and caffeinated beverages actually wash some magnesium out of your body. If you drink two cups of a caffeine-containing beverage daily, the caffeine also washes out some of the magnesium from your body.

Ask your doctor whether it’s okay to take magnesium gluconate, the active, ionized form of magnesium. Your goal is to see whether the ionized form of magnesium will stop the constriction of blood vessels in your brain and in surrounding areas of your head. So work closely with your doctor if you’re trying to prevent migraines with either magnesium or riboflavin or a combination of the two.

Try the natural supplements first if you get unwanted side effects from the usual migraine medicines on the market or your pre-existing blood pressure or heart issues prevent you from taking drugs for migraines. Perhaps your problem lies in balancing minerals and vitamins as well as the whole foods in your body. Find out.

For more info: browse my books, How Nutrigenomics Fights Childhood Type 2 Diabetes & Weight Issues (2009) or Predictive Medicine for Rookies (2005). Or see my books, How to Safely Tailor Your Foods, Medicines, & Cosmetics to Your Genes (2003) or How to Interpret Family History & Ancestry DNA Test Results for Beginners (2004) or How to Open DNA-driven Genealogy Reporting & Interpreting Businesses. (2007). Check out my free audio lecture on Internet Archive, How nutrigenomics fights childhood type 2 diabetes.

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