Executive Summary Video
Migraine shares many clinical features with various mitochondrial diseases. So mitochondrial dysfunction is thought to be one of the ways migraine develops.
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) helps in mitochondrial action. Vitamin B2 is found to help in reducing the frequency or duration of migraine attacks. A dose of 400 mg of vitamin B2 a day should be considered for this benefit. 200 mg or less a day is not found to be useful.
Migraine, in Brief
Migraine involves throbbing pain in some part of your brain. It is a neurological disorder and needs medical attention. A migraine attack can persist for days and debilitate one for the duration.
There are many triggers for migraine, such as light, sound, and even movement. Typical symptoms of migraine are a visual disturbance, fatigue, throbbing pain, speech impediment, short-term vision loss, and nausea.
Twenty percent of migraine attacks involve seeing an aura, which is made up of bright flashing points of light. A typical migraine attack progresses through 4 different stages: prodrome, aura, headache, postdrome.
My Views
- Typically, we eat 1-2 mg of riboflavin a day, and its RDA is also about 1.9 mg/day. So it is impossible to get 400 mg of riboflavin through foods only. One must talk to one’s doctor who may decide to prescribe that quantity.
- Vitamin B2 is water-soluble. So it does not cause toxicity even at high levels of intake such as 400 mg/day.
To Read More
- Cleveland Clinic: Migraine Headaches (overview)
- MedicalNewToday: Everything you need to know about migraine (details about treatment)
- WebMD: Prevention: The Future of Migraine Therapy (details about prevention options)
- NHS.UK: Migraine Treatment (alternate treatments discussed)
- American Family Physician: Acute Migraine Headache: Treatment Strategies (treatment guidelines for healthcare professionals)
- Healthline: 5 Vitamins and Supplements for Migraines
First published on: 20th December 2021
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