Download CoQ10 and Migraines By Lauren Griffiths

COQ10 AND MIGRAINES
By Lauren Griffiths

What is CoQ10 and its role in migraines and
treatment of migraines
Many patients suffering from migraines are found to
have deficient levels of CoQ10.
 CoQ10 is naturally produce and it is in many foods
that are consumed daily such as fish, beef, eggs (not
in chicken), vegetables, and grains.

THE ELECTRON
TRANSPORT CHAIN
-CoQ10 in the
green, (UQ)
-The
enzyme is
active in every cell
in the body.
-Can act as an
anti-oxidant that
can manage the
inflammatory
nature of migraine
and as a
mitochondrial
component
involved in the
electron transport
chain and energy
production
THE SAFETY OF COQ10



John N. Hathcock, Andrew Shao conducted a study to
determine the safety of taking CoQ10 as a
supplement to treat various mitochondrial disorders.
There were no controls over dietary consumption of
CoQ10 so it was assumed that normal levels were
consumed in addition to supplementary amounts.
CoQ10 was found to be safe to consume, in some
individuals there were nausea, heartburn, or upset
stomach but it was not consistently found at a certain
dosage. Ex. The same number of patients with these
problems was found at 1200 mg/day as with patients
taking 60 mg/day. The number of patients reporting
side effects was extremely small and statistically
irrelevant.
EARLY COQ10 RESEARCH




Rozen TD, Oshinsky ML, Gebeline CA, Bradley KC,
Young WB, Shechter AL & Silberstein SD conducted
a study with 32 participants on the efficacy of CoQ10
supplementation as a treatment for migraines
Patients needed to have a history of at least 1 year of
migraines with 2-8 migraines per month.
61.3% of patients had a greater than 50% reduction in
number of days with migraine headache, 93.5% of the
patients had at least a 25% reduction in number of
days with migraine during a 4 month study while
taking 150 mg/day of CoQ10 supplements for the last
3 months.
Side effects of CoQ10 treatment were minimal, 1% of
patients in large studies experience gastrointestinal
side-effects.
CO Q10 DEFICIENCY
Andrew D. Hershey, MD, PhD; ScottW. Powers,
PhD; Anna-Liisa B. et al. conducted a study on
coenzyme Q10 as a supplement.
 CoQ10 plays an essential role in the electron
transport chain in the mitochondria and is
thought to play a role in migraines, but the link
is unknown
 The patients CoQ10 levels were measured before
and after treatment, supplements were taken as
treatment
 46.3% of patients who took CoQ10 supplements
reported 50% reduction in headaches per month
 About 1/3 of patients had CoQ10 levels below the
reference point, or a significant deficiency.

COQ10 SUPPLEMENTATION IN CHILDREN
Shalonda K Slater, Timothy D Nelson, Marielle A
Kabbouche et al. conducted a study on the effects
of CoQ10 supplementation on children ages 6-17
as a treatment for migraine headaches
 Started with 120 participants, only 50
participants left by the end of study for various
reasons.
 The study was a randomized, double-blinded,
placebo-controlled, crossover study where the
patients received either the placebo or the CoQ10
supplement for the first half of the study and
then switched treatments for the other half of the
study.
 The study looked at headache frequency per
month, average severity, average duration and
associated symptoms before and after study

RESULTS
After the crossover, those subjects crossing from
placebo to CoQ10 continued to improve, while
those subjects crossing from CoQ10 to placebo
worsened.
 Over the time of the study the placebo group and
the CoQ10 group both reported reduction in
frequency and severity of migraines, but there
was little difference between the two groups.
 Due to the high drop-out rate from this study the
results were not statistically relevant. It was
also suggested that the dose of CoQ10 was too
low to see statistical improvement, but because it
was being tested on children they kept the dose
low. CoQ10 has been tested on adults with
success in much higher doses than 100mg per
day.

P.S. Sándor, MD; L. Di Clemente, MD; G.
Coppola, MD; U. et al. conducted a study on 42
patients age 18-65 to determine the effect that
CoQ10 had on migraines.
 Patients were given 100mg of CoQ10 in solution
3 times a day in liquid form.
 CoQ10 was superior to placebo for attack
frequency, headache-days and days-with-nausea
in the third treatment month and well tolerated;
50%-responder-rate for attack frequency was
14.4% for placebo and 47.6% for CoQ10.

REFERENCES





Hathcock, John N., Andrew Shao. Risk assessment for
coenzyme Q10 (Ubiquinone). Regulatory Toxicology and
Pharmacology 45 (2006) 282–288
Hershey AD, Powers SW, Vockell AL, Lecates SL, Ellinor
PL, Segers A, et al. Coenzyme Q10 deficiency and response
to supplementation in pediatric and adolescent migraine.
Headache 2007; 47: 73–80.
P.S. Sándor, MD; L. Di Clemente, MD; G. Coppola, MD; U.
Saenger; A. Fumal, MD; D. Magis et al. Efficacy of
coenzyme Q10 in migraine prophylaxis: A randomized
controlled trial. Neurology 2005;64:713–715
Slater SK, Nelson TD, Kabbouche MA, Lecates SL, Horn P,
Segers A, Manning P, et al. A randomized, double-blinded,
placebo-controlled, crossover, add-on study of CoEnzyme
Q10 in the prevention of pediatric and adolescent migraine.
Cephalalgia 2011; 31(8) 897–905
Rozen TD, Oshinsky ML, Gebeline CA, Bradley KC, Young
WB, Shechter AL & Silberstein SD. Open label trial of
coenzyme Q10 as a migraine preventive. Cephalalgia 2002;
22:137–141. London. ISSN 0333-1024