Coenzyme Q10 May Prevent Migraines

Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), a supplement usually recommended to protect heart health, may also help treat and prevent migraine headaches. Results of a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in April 2004 reported that about half the patients taking CoQ10 said it relieved their headaches. In addition, the supplements reduced the frequency of their migraines from 4.4 per month before treatment to 3.2 after treatment. An earlier study, published in the March 2002 issue of Cephalalgia, found that CoQ10 cut the occurrence of migraines by about 55 percent over three months. Researchers became interested in studying CoQ10 for migraine prevention because it can spark energy production in cell mitochondria, and some migraines may be due to a deficiency in cells' ability to generate energy. In the 2002 study, patients were treated with 150 mg of CoQ10 once a day; in the study presented in April of this year, some of the patients participating received a placebo while another group got 100 mg of a liquid, water-soluble form of CoQ10 three times a day. Source: Cephalalgia, March 2002