Table 3.
Efficacy and safety of magnesium in treating headache symptoms.
| Type of Study | Author/Year | Study Length | Country | Type of Headache | Number of Patients | Magnesium Salt | Efficacy Outcome | Safety Outcome | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Children | |||||||||
| Multi-arm | Aloisi, 1997 | 20 days | Italy | Tension, migraine | 60 male and female children 6–13 years | 1500 mg daily oral magnesium pidolate | 20 days treatment sufficiently normalizes serum Magnesium levels in 90% of migraine patients | NR | [68] |
| Double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized trial | Wang, 2003 | 16 weeks | USA | Migraine | 118 male and female children 3–17 years (n = 60, placebo) | 9 mg/kg daily oral magnesium oxide | Significant reduction in headache days | NR | [67] |
| Open label trial | Grazzi, 2007 | 3 months | Italy | Tension | 45 male and female children 8–16 years | 2250 mg x2 daily oral magnesium pidolate | Headache days decreased by 69.9% | No significant side effects | [38] |
| Adults | |||||||||
| Double-blind, controlled, randomized, crossover trial | Karimi, 2019 | 24 weeks | Iran | Migraine | 63 adult male and females | 500 mg daily oral magnesium oxide (800 mg sodium valproate) | Magnesium oxide appears to be as effective as valproate in migraine prophylaxis without significant adverse effects | No side effects on top of headache symptoms | [70] |
| Systematic review (five clinical trials below) | Von Luckner, 2018 | 2–4 months | Various countries | Migraine | Five clinical trials of adult male and females | Different salts different doses | Possibly effective in preventing migraine. Safe and cost efficient | NA | [71] |
| 1. Double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized trial | Facchinetti, 1991 | 2 months | Italy | Menstrual migraine | 20 females | 360 mg daily oral magnesium pyrrolidone carboxylic acid | Significant reduction in the frequency of headache and total pain index | NR | [31] |
| 2. Double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized trial | Peikert, 1996 | 12 weeks | Germany | Migraine | 81 male and female adults (n = 38, placebo) | 600 mg daily oral trimagnesium dicitrate | Significant improvement in patients on active therapy | Diarrhoea and gastric complaints (mild and tolerable) | [32] |
| 3. Double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized trial | Pfaffenrath, 1996 | 12 weeks | Germany | Migraine | 69 male and female adults (n = 34, placebo) | 242 mg daily oral magnesium-u-aspartate-hydrochloride-trihydrate | No effect | Soft stool, diarrhoea (mild) | [33] |
| 4. Double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized trial | Koseoglu, 2008 | 3 months | Turkey | Migraine | 40 male and female adults (n = 10, placebo) | 600 mg daily oral magnesium citrate | Migraine attack frequency, severity, and P1 amplitude decreased | Diarrhoea, soft stools, gastric irritation (mild) | [69] |
| 5. Multicenter, crossover trial | Taubert, 1994 | 2 × 2 months | Germany | Migraine | 63 adult male and females | 600 mg daily oral trimagnesium dicitrate or placebo | Statistically significant reduction in the frequency of attacks compared with placebo | Diarrhoea | [75] |
NA, not applicable; NR, not reported.