Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. A supplement of 2 mg folic acid, 25 mg vitamin B6, and 400 mcg vitamin B12 dropped migraine frequency by 75% over the control group.
Migraine headaches are a dysfunction of the nerves and blood vessels in the brain and are characterized by nausea and vomiting, pain with exposure to light (photophobia) and sound (phonophobia) and severe recurrent headache (1). The International Headache Society has divided migraines into two types – migraine without aura (75% of sufferers) and migraine with aura (25% of sufferers) (1). Aura refers to subjective sensations such as voices or lights before episodes. Migraine headaches affect 12% of Americans and cost our healthcare system $24 billion each year (2)
Although the exact cause of migraines is not known, a new study (3) has found that folic acid may also help mental health. Existing research suggests that homocysteine levels may contribute to migraines by disrupting blood vessel function (4). Building on these findings, 47 patients with migraine headaches with aura or a family history of migraine headaches with aura received either vitamin supplementation (2 mg of folic acid, 25 mg vitamin B6, and 400 micrograms of vitamin B12) or placebo for six months. The researchers kept a diary of the patients’ headache occurrences and took blood samples before and after the study to measure homocysteine levels.
By the end of six months, those in the vitamin group had an average decrease of 39% in homocysteine levels (4 micromoles/liter). This drop was double that of the placebo group, which experienced a 2 micromoles/liter drop. Those in the vitamin group also had a 50% drop in how often their migraines impaired their activity (dropping from 60% disability to 30% disability) compared to no reduction in the placebo group. Finally, there was a 75% decrease in migraine frequency compared to no decrease in the placebo group.
When analyzing the blood samples, the researchers noted that those with a certain gene defect that causes low levels of folic acid in the body (called an “MTHFR C677T polymorphism”)) experienced the greatest benefits from the vitamin supplementation. For the researchers, “This study provides some early evidence that lowering homocysteine through vitamin supplementation reduces migraine disability in a subgroup of patients.”
Source: Lea, Rod, et al. “The effects of vitamin supplementation and MTHFR (C677T) genotype on homocysteine-lowering and migraine disability.” Pharmacogenetics and genomics 19.6 (2009): 422-428.
© 2009 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.
Posted September 15, 2009.
References:
- Headache Classification Committee of The International Headache Society. The International Classification of Headache Disorders (2nd edition). Cephalalgia 2004; 24 (Suppl 1):1–160.
- “New Data Estimate Migraine Headaches Cost U.S. Employers more than $24 Billion Annually” posted on the Thomson Healthcare website.
- Rod L. The effects of vitamin supplementation and MTHFR (C677T) genotype on homocysteine-lowering and migraine disability. Pharmacogenet Genomics 2009 Jun;19(6):422-8.
- Cooke JP, Tsao PS. Is NO an endogenous antiatherogenic molecule? Arterioscler Thromb 1994; 14:653–655.
