International Team of Researchers Find Herbal Extract to be Effective In Preventing Migraine - An herbal extract offers considerable help in preventing migraine headaches, according to an international research team led by Dr. Richard B. Lipton of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. The extract comes from the petasites hybridus root （also known as butterbur）, which has been used for medicinal purposes since ancient times. The researchers reported their findings in the December 28th issue of the journal Neurology.
“Butterbur is a traditional herbal treatment for migraine prevention,” says Dr. Lipton, who is vice chair and professor of neurology at Einstein. “Our study shows that butterbur really does reduce the frequency of migraine attacks, so it's a welcome addition to the therapeutic arsenal we have available to combat migraine.”
The study involved 245 migraine patients who--during the prior three months-- suffered between two to six migraine attacks per month. For the four-month study, the patients were randomly assigned to take two capsules daily of the 75 milligram （mg） dose of butterbur extract, the 50-mg dose, or a placebo. The main outcome measured was the percentage decrease in the frequency of migraine attacks, calculated by comparing migraine attacks during the study with the number of attacks that patients experienced before the study began.
“The 75-mg butterbur dose reduced headache frequency by 48 percent - a substantial treatment effect,” said Dr. Lipton. This compared with a 26 percent reduction among placebo users. Further, Dr. Lipton notes, the 75-mg dose reduced headache frequency by 50% or more in over two-thirds of the migraine sufferers.
The study was conducted at nine primary care or specialty centers in the United States and Germany. Adverse effects from butterbur were infrequent; those most commonly reported that may have been related to butterbur treatment were gastrointestinal in nature, mainly burping.
Raw butterbur root contains toxic chemicals that are filtered out during the manufacturing process - a good reason, says Dr. Lipton, for avoiding “home-brewed” butterbur extract and instead using commercially available products, several of which are sold in the U.S. He further stressed that manufacturing standards are not uniform for plant extracts and that safety data for Petadolex, the brand used in this study, cannot be assumed for other butterbur products. Petadolex is made by Weber & Weber GmbH & Co., which supported the research. | 由理查得·B·利普頓領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的一個國際科研小組表示，款冬類草藥提取物對防治偏頭痛極有幫助。款冬早在古代時就被用于醫(yī)療。
根據(jù)這個小組的發(fā)現(xiàn)，款冬確實(shí)可以減少偏頭痛的發(fā)作。
這次研究共有245位偏頭痛患者參加，這些病人偏頭痛發(fā)作次數(shù)在每月2－6次之間。在為期4個月的研究中，他們隨意指定病人每天服用兩種膠囊，75/50毫克的款冬提取膠囊和安慰劑。與研究前相比，病人偏頭痛發(fā)作次數(shù)成百分比下降。75毫克款冬使偏頭痛減少了48%，而服用安慰劑的病人的偏頭痛發(fā)作次數(shù)減少26%。而且，在2/3以上偏頭痛患者中，75毫克劑型的可將頭痛次數(shù)減少50%以上。
這次研究晨美國和德國進(jìn)行的，其最常見的副作用主要是噯氣。
原始款冬根含有毒性物質(zhì)，這種毒性物質(zhì)在制作時已經(jīng)濾除。目前這種藥物已經(jīng)在美國進(jìn)行銷售，其商標(biāo)為“Petadolex”，由支持這項研究的Weber & Weber GmbH & Co.生產(chǎn)。 |
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