Of Migraines and Magnesium

The Buckler Brief

Bringing you the latest in supplement analysis!

Supplement: butterbur

Use: natural migraine relief

The verdict: worth a try

I don’t normally recommend a lot of herbs, especially the trendier ones, unless they have some serious scientific backing. Butterbur passes my test. Depending on which recent study you check out, Butterbur (taken twice daily at 75 mg a pop) reduces the frequency of migraines by as much as 60 per cent. Supplement News Blog reports that in a double-blind study from Neurology, butterbur was twice as effective as a placebo in offering migraine relief. Personally, I have seen many cases of migraine suffering clear up with a good daily dose of Omega-3′s, a multivitamin, and elimination of sugar from the diet. However, if you’ve done these things and still suffer the agony of migraines, you might want to try butterbur.

Source: Supplement News

Note on the source: I do not endorse melatonin, nor does Mark. The use of hormone supplement therapy is controversial and I believe you’re better off finding natural ways to stimulate the production of your own melatonin through nutrition and exercise, rather than create an artificial dependency. Supplementing frequently with melatonin (other than for recovering from jet lag or other short-term sleep interferences) can cause the body to produce less on its own, therefore triggering a rather vicious cycle of hormone depletion.

Supplement: magnesium

Use: where do I start?

The verdict: absolutely essential and often overlooked!

Magnesium is vital to mental and emotional health, proper sleep, healthy cell function, bone health and, according to new research, reduction of inflammation. Those of you who know me know that inflammation is perhaps my biggest health concern for people. It’s the common culprit behind diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, obesity and many other conditions. I believe the DV for magnesium is much too low. (Here’s some interesting research to get you started if you are curious to learn more. Here’s another handy link.) I’m including these statements on magnesium today because I think this is a critically overlooked nutrient.

Though not a “trendy” supplement (and look for me to debunk plenty of those in future Briefs), I believe we really need to focus our current attention on the importance of magnesium. Many of our current health problems indicate possible magnesium deficiency, and it’s a big enough issue that the WHO has even published their concerns (the WHO is quite conservative and typically doesn’t promote supplementation beyond basic necessity, so when they talk about deficiency issues, you know it’s a big deal. The sad thing is that our Western diet, which is so potentially rich in nutrition, is in practice creating a very deficient, unhealthy population. You may remember we reported on this issue recently.)

Posted By: Elliott

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