Migraines are widespread, and they have inordinate financial repercussions. The National Migraine Association states: "The US annual direct and indirect economic costs of Migraine disease and headache disorders exceeds $31 billion."
The financial whammy exerted by migraines is no surprise when the lost productivity/wages plus the money spent for medicines and treatment is multiplied by the number of migraines sustained.
The World Health Organization convened an international panel on headache and related disorders in March 2000, and among the panel's conclusions was that 10-15% of Europeans and Americans, 8.4% of Japanese, and 2.9-7.2% of African people experience migraines.
A Potential Low Cost Migraine Preventative
A inexpensive treatment that reduces frequency and magnitude of migraine attacks would be advantageous, and dietary supplementation with magnesium has some evidence of fulfilling that objective.
- The evidence that magnesium is effective in reducing migraine frequency and pain
- A 1992 study in Italy found that women with menstrual migraine who took magnesium at 360 mg/day beginning on Day 15 of their menstrual cycle had decreased days of migraine and decreased total pain by the second month of the regimen. (Headache. 1991 May;31(5):298-301.)
- A 1996 study in Germany found that migraine sufferers taking 600 mg of magnesium daily for 12 weeks had 41.6% fewer attacks than they had suffered before the treatment. The beneficial effects were seen by the ninth week of treatment. (Cephalalgia. 1996 Jun;16(4):257-263.)
- A 2003 study in the United States (California) found the migraine-suffering children (ages 3-17) given magnesium at 9 mg/kg/day had a small but significant decrease in migraine frequency and severity relative to the group taking a placebo. (Headache. 2003 Jun;43(6):601-610.)
- The evidence that magnesium has no effect on migraine frequency and pain
- A 1996 study in Austria found that migraine sufferers taking magnesium at 485 mg/day for 12 weeks showed no difference in number or severity of attacks than they had experienced before treatment. (Cephalalgia. 1996 Oct;16(6):436-440.)
Whether magnesium supplementation does or does not reduce migraine frequency/pain, magnesium is an essential component for many biological processes, and everyone (migraine sufferer or non-migraine sufferer) needs to ensure that he/she obtains the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) from either food or supplements. A table listing RDAs by age and gender is available at Oregon State University's Micronutrient Information Center. The site also provides a table of foods relatively rich in magnesium.
Since magnesium is safe (except for people with specific health problems) when taken in the tolerable upper limits set by the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine (350 mg/day for adults and adolescents) and since magnesium is relatively inexpensive, some migraine sufferers may experience fewer episodes and reduced pain by taking a magnesium supplement.
Connie Stewart - After many years of dreaming about being a science writer and a book reviewer, Connie is finally exploring both activities as a free-lance ...
