Attenuation of chronic tension headache frequency and severity with daily l-arginine and aged garlic extract dietary supplementation

• Published in: European journal of clinical nutrition Vol. 76; no. 2; pp. 317 - 319
• Main Authors: Chaliha, Devahuti, Vaccarezza, Mauro, Lam, Virginie, Takechi, Ryusuke, Mamo, John C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.02.2022; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 692/308/153; 692/699/375/380; Aged; Arginine; Arginine - pharmacology; Arginine - therapeutic use; Attenuation; Blood vessels; Case Report; Clinical Nutrition; Dietary Supplements; Double-Blind Method; Epidemiology; Female; Garlic; Headache; Humans; Hypotheses; Internal Medicine; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metabolic Diseases; Microvasculature; Migraine; Patients; Plant Extracts - pharmacology; Plant Extracts - therapeutic use; Public Health; Tension-Type Headache - drug therapy; Treatment Outcome; Vasodilation
• ISSN: 0954-3007; 1476-5640; 1476-5640
• DOI: 10.1038/s41430-021-00962-x

A 74-year-old female subject with suboptimal management of episodic tension headache was treated with a daily dose of 1.5 g l -arginine and 1.2 g aged garlic extract (AGE). The aim of the intervention was to promote vasodilation of parenchymal cerebral blood vessels. Within 6 weeks of commencing treatment, her self-reported symptoms improved markedly and were sustained at 2 years following commencement. We propose that the putative beneficial effect of l -arginine and AGE in this patient is because of the well-established systemic vasodilatory effects of l -arginine and aged garlic extract. On the hypothesis that migraine is precipitated by cerebral microvascular constriction, we recommend a double-blind randomised controlled trial to clinically test this hypothesis in migraine patients.