Why all migraine patients should be treated with magnesium

Magnesium, the second most abundant intracellular cation, is essential in many intracellular processes and appears to play an important role in migraine pathogenesis. Routine blood tests do not reflect true body magnesium stores since <2 % is in the measurable, extracellular space, 67 % is in the bone and 31 % is located intracellularly. Lack of magnesium may promote cortical spreading depression, hyperaggregation of platelets, affect serotonin receptor function, and influence synthesis and release of a variety of neurotransmitters. Migraine sufferers may develop magnesium deficiency due to genetic inability to absorb magnesium, inherited renal magnesium wasting, excretion of excessive amounts of magnesium due to stress, low nutritional intake, and several other reasons. There is strong evidence that magnesium deficiency is much more prevalent in migraine sufferers than in healthy controls. Double-blind, placebo-controlled trials have produced mixed results, most likely because both magnesium deficient and non-deficient patients were included in these trials. This is akin to giving cyanocobalamine in a blinded fashion to a group of people with peripheral neuropathy without regard to their cyanocobalamine levels. Both oral and intravenous magnesium are widely available, extremely safe, very inexpensive and for patients who are magnesium deficient can be highly effective. Considering these features of magnesium, the fact that magnesium deficiency may be present in up to half of migraine patients, and that routine blood tests are not indicative of magnesium status, empiric treatment with at least oral magnesium is warranted in all migraine sufferers.

Journal of Neural Transmission, Online First™ – SpringerLinkMagnesium, the second most abundant intracellular cation, is essential in many intracellular processes and appears to play an important role in migraine pathogenesis. Routine blood tests do not reflect true body magnesium stores since <2 % is in the measurable, extracellular space, 67 % is in the bone and 31 % is located intracellularly.

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Reference

Mauskop A, Varughese J. Why all migraine patients should be treated with magnesium. J Neural Transm. 2012 Mar 18. [Epub ahead of print]

 

What is Magnesium?

Learn about Magnesium, benefits and what can happen to the body with lack of magnesium.

What is Magnesium? Videogram. Colorado Springs, CO: Mineralife LLC, 2011.

Miraculous Magnesium

Lyle Hurd, of Total Health magazine, explains the many health benefits maganesium supplements provide the body (2007).

Magnesium

Pharmacist Max Motyka shares in this video (2008) the importance of magnesium. It plays a role in more than 400 enzyme reactions in our bodies, so we need to make sure we’re getting enough.

 

Nutraceuticals and Headache: The Biological Basis

Headaches are a common and debilitating ailment from which most people suffer at one time or another. Common types of headaches include tension headaches, migraines, cluster headaches and sinus headaches. Headaches can have many causes, but serious causes of headaches are rare. 

This review discusses the biological basis for non-conventional or non-mainstream approaches to the treatment of migraine. Dr. Frederick Taylor discuss in this context magnesium, riboflavin, coenzyme Q10, petasites, feverfew, marijuana/cannabis, and oxygen/ hyperbaric oxygen.  

 

Frederick R. Taylor

Nutraceuticals and Headache: The Biological Basis

Headache 2011; 51 (3): 484-501

 

ABSTRACT

Nutrition must affect the structure and functioning of the brain. Since the brain has very high metabolic activity, what we consume throughout the day is likely to dramatically influence both its structure and moment to moment function. It follows that nutritional approaches to all neurological disorders are being researched and entering medical practice, while nutraceutical use is a mainstay of public habits. This review discusses the biological basis for non-conventional or non-mainstream approaches to the treatment of migraine. This requires at least limited discussion of current migraine pathophysiologic theory. How nutrients and other chemicals and approaches are mechanistically involved within migraine pathways is the focus of this article. The nutraceuticals reviewed in detail are: magnesium, riboflavin, coenzyme Q10, petasites, and feverfew with additional comments on marijuana and oxygen/hyperbaric oxygen. This article reviews the science when known related to the potential genetic susceptibility and sensitivity to these treatments. As we know, the basic science in this field is very preliminary, so whether to combine approaches and presumably mechanisms or use them alone or with or without conventional therapies is far from clear. Nonetheless, as more patients and providers participate in patient-centered approaches to care, knowledge of the science underpinning nutritional, nutraceutical, and complementary approaches to treatment for migraine will certainly benefit this interaction.

 

Magnesium Rich Foods

Food Sources of Magnesium ranked by milligrams of magnesium per standard amount; also calories in the standard amount. (All are  10% of RDA for adult men, which is 420 mg/day.)

Food, Standard Amount

Magnesium (mg)

Calories

Pumpkin and squash seed kernels, roasted, 1 oz

151

148

Brazil nuts, 1 oz

107

186

Bran ready-to-eat cereal (100%), ~1 oz

103

74

Halibut, cooked, 3 oz

91

  119

Quinoa, dry, ¼ cup

89

159

Spinach, canned, ½ cup

81

25

Almonds, 1 oz

78

164

Spinach, cooked from fresh, ½ cup

78

  20

Buckwheat flour, ¼ cup

75

101

Cashews, dry roasted, 1 oz

74

163

Soybeans, mature, cooked, ½ cup

74

  149

Pine nuts, dried, 1 oz

71

191

Mixed nuts, oil roasted, with peanuts, 1 oz

67

175

White beans, canned, ½ cup

67

154

Pollock, walleye, cooked, 3 oz

62

96

Black beans, cooked, ½ cup

60

  114

Bulgur, dry, ¼ cup

57

120

Oat bran, raw, ¼ cup

55

58

Soybeans, green, cooked, ½ cup

54

  127

Tuna, yellowfin, cooked, 3 oz

54

  118

Artichokes (hearts), cooked, ½ cup

50

  42

Peanuts, dry roasted, 1 oz

50

166

Lima beans, baby, cooked from frozen, ½ cup

50

  95

Beet greens, cooked, ½ cup

49

19

Navy beans, cooked, ½ cup

48

127

Tofu, firm, prepared with nigaria , ½ cup

47

  88

Okra, cooked from frozen, ½ cup

47

  26

Soy beverage, 1 cup

47

127

Cowpeas, cooked, ½ cup

46

100

Hazelnuts, 1 oz

46

178

Oat bran muffin, 1 oz

45

77

Great northern beans, cooked, ½ cup

44

104

Oat bran, cooked, ½ cup

44

44

Buckwheat groats, roasted, cooked, ½ cup

43

78

Brown rice, cooked, ½ cup

42

108

Haddock, cooked, 3 oz

42

95

a Calcium sulfate and magnesium chloride.

Source: Nutrient values from Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 17. Foods are from ARS single nutrient reports, sorted in descending order by nutrient content in terms of common household measures. Food items and weights in the single nutrient reports are adapted from those in 2002 revision of USDA Home and Garden Bulletin No. 72, Nutritive Value of Foods. Mixed dishes and multiple preparations of the same food item have been omitted from this table.