Children, Teens And Young Adults With Migraines Have Vitamin Deficiencies, Study Says

A study reveals that many children, teens and young adults with migraines have mild deficiencies in vitamin D, coenzyme Q10 and riboflavin.

The study was led by Dr. Suzanne Hagler, a Headache Medicine fellow in the division of Neurology and colleagues from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. Dr. Hagler reported her findings at the 58th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Headache Society in San Diego on June 10, 2016, according to Science Daily.

The study involved patients with migraines, who had baseline blood levels checked for riboflavin, vitamin D, coenzyme Q10, and folate, according to Headache Center. The patients had taken preventive migraine medications and vitamin supplementation if the levels were low. The researchers examined their data.

They discovered that girls and a young woman had coenzyme Q10 deficiencies at baseline compared to boys and young men. On the other hand, the boys and young men had vitamin D deficiency. It was not clear whether there were folate deficiencies. They also found that patients with chronic migraines have riboflavin and coenzyme deficiencies compared to those with episodic migraines.

Dr. Hagler said that further studies are needed to clarify whether vitamin supplementation is effective in migraine patients in general and whether patients with slight deficiency are more likely to benefit from supplementation.

Vitamin D can be obtained from sun exposure and from foods such as tuna, salmon, and mackerel. Dairy products, soy milk, orange juice, egg yolks, beef liver and cereals are also rich in vitamin D. Riboflavin is also referred to as vitamin B2. Foods that contain riboflavin are cheese, milk, eggs, liver, leafy vegetables, mushrooms, almonds and legumes. Meanwhile, coenzyme Q10 is a vitamin-like substance that is found in each cell of the body that is used to generate energy for cell growth and maintenance. Coenzyme Q10 is sold as a dietary supplement.