Migraine is a nuisance to many, with no known cure. Symptoms are typically alleviated by anti-inflammatory medicines and painkillers. An increasing number of researchers are trying to find alternative treatment options. There’s more focus on vitamins and minerals, which are not only cost-effective solutions, but safe for long-term use as well.

One such mineral substance is magnesium, which has several properties that would help migraine sufferers. A randomized controlled trial published in 2021 with the pun-tastic title “MAGreine” compared the effectiveness of magnesium to anti-migraine medicines currently used in hospitals. (1)

This study didn’t aim to determine whether magnesium supplementation decreases the number of migraine episodes, but whether migraine symptoms can be alleviated by magnesium. The study had 157 participants altogether, who were divided into three groups. Two groups received two different types of migraine medicine while the third group got magnesium through I.V.. The changes in their symptoms were measured.

Magnesium soothed the participants’ pain just as effectively as both medicines, and had only half as many side-effects as one of the medicines. While magnesium was used in the form of I.V. treatment to alleviate the symptoms of already ongoing migraine symptoms, it may be worthwile to use it for prevention as well, or try magnesium supplementation when less intense migraine symptoms occur, as it’s possible that magnesium deficiency might play a role in the formation of migraines. This is supported by another study published in 2021, where a type of migraine, namely migraine with aura was found to be in association with magnesium deficiency. (2)