Turmeric and ω-3 Fatty Acids, the Natural Prevention and Treatment of Migraine Headache

By Kyle J. Norton

A headache is a condition characterized by pain in the region around the head or neck. Normally, it is a symptom of a number of different effects of certain diseases or the head and neck themselves.

Migraine headache is one most common headaches associated with a chronic neurological disorder of moderate to severe headaches, and nausea that usually develops gradually over 5–20 minutes and lasts for less than 60 minutes.

According to the statistics, approximately 15% of American have a migraine headache, as a result of the change in the brain and its surrounding blood vessels.

The exact causes of migraine headache are not identified. However, smoking, use of hormonal contraceptives, depolarization inside the neurons, long-term stress, abnormal calcium channels, and reduced magnesium levels, are some of the prevalent factors found in patients with the condition.

Most common symptoms of migraine headache are

* The prodrome symptoms happen in 40–60% of migraines is an occurrence of early symptoms that indicate the start of a migraine headache attacks, including altered mood, irritability, depression or euphoria, fatigue, yawning, excessive sleepiness, craving for a certain food, etc.

* The aura found in approximately 20 -40% migraine sufferers are symptoms of comprised focal neurological phenomena that appear gradually over five to 20 minutes and last fewer than 60 minutes. 

* The pain phase is a headache phase of the migraine attack usually begins within 60 minutes of the end of the aura phase.

* After the pain phase, 68% of the sufferers may experience the postdrome that may be lasted for average of 24 hours, including tiredness (71.8%), head pain (33.1%), cognitive difficulties (11.7%), ‘hangover’ (10.7%), gastrointestinal symptoms (8.4%), mood change (6.8%), and weakness (6.2%) with commonest symptoms being tiredness and low-grade headache.

Conventionally, treatments of a migraine headache include pain-relieving medications and prevention medication.

Turmeric is a perennial plant in the genus Curcuma, belongings to the family Zingiberaceae, native to tropical South Asia.

The herb has been used in traditional medicine as anti-oxidant, hypoglycemic, colorant, antiseptic, wound healing agent, and for the treatment of flatulence, bloating, and appetite loss, ulcers, eczema, inflammations, etc.

On finding a potential compound for the treatment of headache, researchers examined the immunomodulatory effects of ω-3 fatty acids, nano-curcumin, and a combination of the two, on neuroinflammation and clinical symptoms in migraine patients.

The study included 74 episodic migraine patients received ω-3 fatty acids, nano-curcumin, a combination of them, or a placebo for a 2-month period.

According to the measurement of the expression of COX-2/iNOS (in peripheral mononuclear blood cells isolated from patients) and COX-2/iNOS serum levels, before and after the experiment researchers found

* Application of ω-3 fatty acids and nano-curcumin worked synergistically in the inhibition of the COX-2/iNOS mRNA and serum levels that have been found to induce inflammation in the brain.

* Furthermore, the combination also protected the neuron integrity in controlling the facial sensations that significantly reduce the frequency, severity, and duration of headaches.

After taking other factors into account, researchers wrote, "combination therapy of ω-3 fatty acids and nano-curcumin can be considered as a promising new approach in migraine prevention".

Taken altogether, turmeric used alone or combined with ω-3 fatty acids may be considered supplements for the prevention and treatment of migraine headache pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Intake of turmeric in the form of supplement should be taken with extreme care to prevent overdose acute liver toxicity.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1)  The Neuromodulatory Effects of ω-3 Fatty Acids and Nano-Curcumin on the COX-2/ iNOS Network in Migraines: A Clinical Trial Study from Gene Expression to Clinical Symptoms by Abdolahi M1, Jafarieh A2, Sarraf P3, Sedighiyan M4, Yousefi A2, Tafakhori A3, Abdollahi H1, Salehinia F1, Djalali M. (PubMed)