First Case Study to Show Direct Link Between Alzheimer’s and Aluminum Toxicity

English: Histopathogic image of senile plaques seen in the cerebral cortex in a patient with Alzheimer disease of presenile onset. Silver impregnation. The same case as shown in a file "Alzheimer_dementia_(1)_presenile_onset.jpg". (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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By Dr. Mercola

Aluminum has been long known to be neurotoxic, with mounting evidence that chronic exposure is a factor in many neurological diseases, including dementia, autism, and Parkinson's disease.

However, definitive scientific proof is difficult to establish due to the lack of longitudinal studies, as well as pushback from industries that use aluminum in their products. Despite the shortage of conclusive studies, mounting scientific evidence really leaves little room for doubt.

Case in point: a new case study from Keele University in the UK1 unequivocally shows high levels of aluminum in the brain of an individual exposed to aluminum at work, who later died from Alzheimer's disease.

While aluminum exposure has been implicated in Alzheimer's and a number of other neurological diseases, this case claims to be "the first direct link" between Alzheimer's disease and elevated brain aluminum following occupational exposure.2

The Aluminum-Alzheimer's Link

The 66 year-old Caucasian man developed an aggressive form of early onset Alzheimer's disease after eight years of occupational exposure to aluminum dust, which scientists conclude "suggests a prominent role for the olfactory system and lungs in the accumulation of aluminum in the brain."

This is not the first time high aluminum levels have been found in the tissues of someone who died from Alzheimer's disease. For example, in 2004, high aluminum levels were found in the tissues of a British woman who died of early-onset Alzheimer's.

This was 16 years after an industrial accident dumped 20 metric tons of aluminum sulphate into her local drinking water. And there are many studies showing elevated aluminum levels in living individuals displaying a wide range of neurological symptoms.3

Aluminum Can Be an Occupational Hazard

Exposure to aluminum is unfortunately an occupational hazard for those who work in industries like mining, factory work, welding, and agriculture. Not to mention that you ingest aluminum vapors every time your nose catches cigarette smoke wafting by.

Inhaling aluminum dust or vapors sends aluminum particles directly into your lungs in a highly absorbable form, where they pass into your bloodstream and are distributed throughout your body, including your bones and brain. Aluminum powder has been known to cause pulmonary fibrosis, and aluminum factory workers are prone to asthma. Studies of the health effects of aluminum vapors have been grim, pointing to high levels of neurotoxicity.4

So why are most government regulators and physicians so resistant to looking at the health and environmental effects of aluminum? One filmmaker is shining a light on this issue by way of a documentary.

The 'Dark Side' of Aluminum Exposed

The featured documentary, The Age of Aluminum, reveals the "dark side" of this toxic metal, exploring the scientific links between aluminum and diseases such as breast cancer and neurological disorders. Also exposed is how aluminum mining and manufacturing have created acute ecological problems across the globe, leading to environmental disasters in Hungary, South Africa, and the UK. In the film, neuroscientist Christopher Shaw reports:5

"Many researchers are beginning to accept that aluminum has some sort of role to play in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. Whether it does in others is still an open question, but Alzheimer's is really coming into focus and it's fairly clear that the body burden of aluminum from all the sources to which humans are exposed may be contributing to Alzheimer's disease."

Aluminum Is Everywhere

Although aluminum occurs naturally in soil, water, and air, we are contributing to the load with the mining and processing of aluminum ores, manufacturing of aluminum products, and the operation of coal-fired power plants and incinerators. Aluminum can't be destroyed in the environment—it only changes its form by attaching or separating from other particles.

Rain washes aluminum particles out of the air and into our water supply, where they tend to accumulate rather than degrade. If you live in an industrial area, your exposure is undoubtedly higher than average.6

According to CDC, the average adult in the US consumes about seven to nine mg of aluminum per day in food, and a lesser amount from air and water. Only about one percent of the aluminum you ingest orally gets absorbed into your body—the rest is moved out by your digestive tract, provided it's functioning well.

When tested in a lab, aluminum contamination has been found in a vast number of products on the market, from foods and beverages to pharmaceuticals, which suggests the manufacturing process itself is a significant part of the problem. Aluminum is found in a shocking number of foods and consumer products, including:

• Foods such as baking powder, self rising flour, salt, baby formula, coffee creamers, baked goods and processed foods, coloring and caking agents
• Drugs, such as antacids, analgesics, anti-diarrheals, and others; additives such as magnesium stearate
• Vaccines—Hepatitis A and B, Hib, DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis), pneumococcal vaccine, Gardasil (HPV), and others
• Cosmetics and personal care products such as antiperspirants, deodorants (including salt crystals, made of alum), lotions, sunscreens, and shampoos
• Aluminum products, including foil, cans, juice pouches, tins, and water bottles

Does Your Frozen Dinner Come with a Side of Aluminum?

Aluminum contamination in our food supply is a more significant problem than you may think. In a study published in the journalEnvironmental Sciences Europe,7 researchers analyzed 1,431 non-animal foods and beverages for aluminum content. This is what they found:

• 77.8 percent had an aluminum concentration of up to 10 mg/kg
• 17.5 percent had aluminum concentrations between 10 and 100 mg\kg
• 4.6 percent of the samples had aluminum concentrations in excess of 100 mg/kg

Aluminum compounds are often used as additives in foodstuffs. Additional contamination occurs when food comes into contact with aluminum equipment and other items because aluminum is unstable in the presence of acids and bases. Aluminum equipment has a protective oxide film, but this can be damaged as fine fissures develop from normal wear and tear.In the study,8Table 3 shows the aluminum content of everything from flour and baking mixes to soup, chocolate, beer and wine, and herbal teas. Some products show a wide range of contamination levels, and others are more homogenous. Baked goods are very high because of the common practice of baking and storing foods on aluminum trays.9 The report has numerous other tables that demonstrate how prevalent this toxin is in your food.

If you cook your food in aluminum foil, you are introducing your own contamination. One investigation found that cooking meats in aluminum foil increases their aluminum concentration. Researchers concluded, "eating meals prepared in aluminum foil may carry a health risk by adding to other aluminum sources." As with many toxins, it isn't one exposure here and there that is so concerning—it's the cumulative effect of many smaller exposures over time that can lead to a toxic metal overload and erosion of your health. According to a 2006 study, cooking meat in aluminum foil increased aluminum levels as follows:10

• Red meats cooked in aluminum foil showed an increase in aluminum by 89 to 378 percent
• Poultry increased by 76 to 214 percent
• Aluminum levels increased with higher cooking temperatures and longer cooking times

Aluminum Heads Straight to Your Brain

Aluminum is to your central nervous system as cigarette smoke is to your lungs. Scientists are clear that toxic metals damage brain tissue and lead to degenerative disease by producing oxidative stress—and aluminum is one of the worst offenders. WithAlzheimer's rates skyrocketing, today's multiple avenues of aluminum exposure are of great concern. Just as with particles in the environment, once aluminum is in your tissues, your body has a difficult time releasing it. This toxic metal serves absolutely no biological purpose, so the less of it you ingest, the better.

Once in your body, it travels around easily, unimpeded, piggybacking on your iron transport system. It crosses biological barriers that normally keep other types of toxins out, such as your blood-brain barrier. Over time, aluminum can accumulate in your brain and do serious damage your neurological health—regardless of your age. Aluminum toxicity may be doing as much damage to our children as to our seniors.

Brain Inflammation in Both Children and Adults

Total Video Length: 00:41:55

Download Interview Transcript

Vaccines present a particularly problematic source of toxic metal exposure. Aluminum is the most commonly used vaccine adjuvant and is considered "safe" even though research shows it may induce serious immunological disorders and neurological complications in humans.

In the video above, Dr. David Ayoub discusses how the aluminum in vaccines may be even more dangerous than mercury. The number of aluminum-containing vaccines children receive today11 has quadrupled over the past 30 years. In the 1970s, children got only four aluminum-containing vaccines in their first 18 months of life, but now they typically receive 17. And as children's aluminum burden has increased, so has the prevalence of childhood neurological disorders. In one school, 90 percent of the children developed ADHD during the course of a single school year, and their toxicity profiles all revealed massive amounts of aluminum.

Aluminum has been increasingly replacing mercury as an adjuvant in vaccines since thimerosal fell out of public favor. If you go by the aluminum content on vaccine labels, the amount kids are getting is excessive, but if you add in the aluminum NOT listed on the labels—"accidental exposure" due to contamination—it's a much more serious problem. Dr. Ayoub cites one study that found five to six times more aluminum in vaccines than what was actually listed on the labels.

When you review the signs and symptoms of aluminum toxicity, they are shockingly similar to the symptoms of autism, ADHD, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and other neurological diseases. Vaccine adjuvants can cause serious chronic brain inflammation. Aluminum targets your cerebellum and autonomic nervous system—the part responsible for biological processes over which you have no conscious control (breathing, blood pressure, balance, coordination, etc.). When you look at the MSDS sheet for aluminum, you will see symptoms strikingly similar to those in common neurological diseases, including memory problems, speech impairments and aphasia, dementia, depression, muscle weakness, motor disturbances, and other neurological difficulties. The list goes on and on.12

Researchers Claim New Blood Test May Predict Alzheimer's

There has never been a way to accurately predict who will get Alzheimer's, but that may be changing. Researchers at Georgetown University and University of Rochester claim they have found a blood test that predicts this with 90 percent accuracy—and incredibly, with NO false negatives. If further research confirms what researchers expect, this is a medical breakthrough of epic proportions.13

The test involves measuring the patterns of 10 specific lipids (fat-like compounds) associated with the plaques found in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease. These 10 lipids are highly predictive of whether or not you will become cognitively impaired. All of the people in the study were in their 70s, so the next step is to determine if the test is accurate earlier, say in your 40s and 50s. Researchers say they are still several years away from implementing the test, but they all feel very hopeful.14

Biomarkers such as lipids are tricky for Alzheimer's because they change during the course of the illness. Some occur in high levels during the early phase of the disease and then actually decrease after symptoms appear—so they are stage dependent. There is clearly much more research that needs to be done before we have a grasp of this disease.15 Even with a test that can predict whether or not you are in the process of developing dementia, there are no good treatments once you have it—so you should be doing everything in your power to prevent it. One of the strategies is helping your body detoxify from metals, such as aluminum.

Aluminum Impairs Your Body's Ability to Detoxify

Removing mercury from vaccines and replacing it with aluminum may be increasing the problems from BOTH toxins in your body. The reason for this is because aluminum impairs your body's ability to excrete mercury by impeding your glutathione production. Glutathione is your most important intracellular detoxifier, required for reversing oxidative stress. So, if your aluminum load is high, your body will potentially become more toxic from the mercury from, say, flu shots and fish because you are now on "aluminum overload" and your detoxification system no longer functions well.

Your body requires sulfur to manufacture glutathione, making sulfur an extremely important dietary nutrient when it comes to metal detoxification, which can be optimized through dietary sources. Onions and garlic are good if they are grown in sulfur rich soils, but most soils are unfortunately sulfur deficient. Therefore, animal-based proteins seem to be one of your best bets. Whey protein concentrate is particularly high in cysteine, one of the two sulfur-bearing amino acids that are direct precursors to glutathione.

Please note that if you avoid consuming animal proteins, it is VERY easy to become sulfur deficient, and this may be one of the most significant risk factors for choosing an animal protein-free diet. That doesn't mean you should go overboard on meat, however! Most people need only about one gram of protein per kilogram of lean body weight, or about half a gram of protein per pound of lean body mass. Also make sure to buy grass-fed and finished meats, as most factory farmed meat is of inferior quality and contaminated with a whole host of veterinary drugs, including antibiotics and growth hormones.

How to Detoxify Aluminum

There are a number of potent chelators you can use to detoxify aluminum. Clearly, your first step would be to avoid further exposure to aluminum. This means avoiding products such as:

• Toothpaste containing aluminium oxyhydroxide16
• Antiperspirants containing aluminum chloride, aluminum chlorohydrate, or aluminum-zirconium compounds
• Aluminum laminated pouch drinks
• Aluminum cookware
• Aluminum espresso makers

For serious Alzheimer's disease, the following chelating agents can be helpful:  

• Silica-rich water, such as Fiji water,17 which contains 83 Mg of silica per liter. Research18 published in 2013 showed that drinking up to one liter of a silicon-rich mineral water daily for 12 weeks effectively excreted aluminum via the urine, without detrimental effects on essential metals such as iron and copper. According to the authors: "We have provided preliminary evidence that over 12 weeks of silicon-rich mineral water therapy the body burden of aluminum fell in individuals with Alzheimer's disease and, concomitantly, cognitive performance showed clinically relevant improvements in at least 3 out of 15 individuals."
• Melatonin: Research19, 20, 21 shows that melatonin has a metal binding role and is a useful supplement in the treatment of neurological disorders in which oxidative stress is involved, which includes Alzheimer's. Melatonin can travel freely across all cellular barriers, facilitating the removal of toxic metals such as aluminum. It also appears to suppress the oxidative activity of aluminum in your brain.
• Anything that raises your glutathione. Your body synthesizes glutathione from three amino acids: cysteine, glutamate, and glycine. Raw fruits and vegetables, particularly avocado, asparagus, grapefruit, strawberries, orange, tomato, cantaloupe, broccoli, okra, peach, zucchini, and spinach are rich in the precursors glutamate and glycine. Dietary sources of cysteine include eggs, meat, red peppers, garlic, onions, Brussels sprouts, whey protein, and wheat germ. Other helpful treatments for improved glutathione metabolism include:
  • Exercise: Exercise affects your adenosine triphosphate (ATP) levels needed to help produce glutathione
  • Optimizing your vitamin D levels through sun exposure: There's some evidence vitamin D increases intracellular glutathione levels
  • Epsom salt baths
  • MSM supplementation
  • The supplement N-acetyl L-cysteine (NAC) may also be useful. NAC is the rate-limiting nutrient for the formation of the intracellular antioxidant glutathione
• Curcumin:22 Research23, 24 suggests that curcumin has a protective effect against aluminum-induced damage by modulating the extent of oxidative stress. It also decreases beta-amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer's, delays neuron degradation, chelates metals, decreases microglia formation, and has an overall anti-inflammatory, antioxidant effect. Studies have shown that curcumin can help improve memory in Alzheimer's patients. There are some contraindications25 that curcumin is not recommended if you have biliary tract obstruction (as it stimulates bile secretion), gallstones, obstructive jaundice, or acute biliary colic.

In Summary

It can no longer be argued that aluminum does not have a role in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's—the evidence is very clear and growing. It really should not be surprising that people with aluminum toxicity display many of the same symptoms as those with dementia, Parkinson's, ADHD, autism, and other neurological diseases, because aluminum targets exactly these areas of your brain and nervous system.

The best way to protect yourself is to be careful about your choices in food and personal products, and minimize your use of vaccines and other drugs that are often contaminated with aluminum.

Optimizing your dietary sulfur is also essential, as your body needs sulfur to manufacture its number one weapon against aluminum overload: glutathione. By taking a few steps to protect yourself, you'll minimize your exposure while maximizing your body's ability to rid itself of this toxic metal, which will move you toward a long and healthy life well into your senior years. For additional tips and strategies that can help prevent and/or treat Alzheimer's, please see my previous article "Two Exciting Alzheimer's Advances: A Novel Early Detection Test Using Peanut Butter, and a Study Evaluating Coconut Oil."

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• First Case Study to Show Direct Link Between Alzheimer's and Aluminum Toxicity
• Stress - Trigger of Alzheimer's Identified
• The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across the Spectrum
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Placebo Effect Dictates Therapeutic Effect of Headache Medication

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Dr. Mercola

According to a recent Google query analysis, the 2008 recession took a great toll on Americans’ health.1 Ulcers and headaches topped the charts in terms of ailments people sought advice on.

Interestingly, the rise in such stress-related health problems has turned out to be enduring. According to the lead author:2

“By the end of the great recession in 2011, queries were still substantially higher than before the recession. People were not getting better with the economy. People were potentially much sicker.”

Migraine headache—which is a more severe form of head pain—is actually one of the most common health conditions in the world, regardless of the economic climate.

It’s more prevalent than diabetes, epilepsy and asthma combined.3 It’s also one of the top 20 causes of disability among adults. An estimated 26 million Americans suffer with migraines, and approximately 80 percent of them are women.4

Economic Woes Fuel Ulcers and Headaches

The first featured study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine,5 analyzed the number of Google queries for each of the top 100 health-related search terms made between December 2008 and December 2011. They then compared this to the number of queries for each search term made prior to the recession.

Compared to pre-recession data, certain ailments skyrocketed during the years of the recession. Stomach ulcers rose 228 percent (1.48 million extra queries), followed by headache symptoms, which rose by 193 percent (1.52 million extra queries). According to the study:

“Google queries indicate that the Great Recession coincided with substantial increases in health concerns, hinting at how population health specifically changed during that time... Among just the top 100, there were roughly 205 million excess health concern queries during the Great Recession.”

Headaches Come in Many Forms

Naturally, there’s a wide range of headaches. Compared to other types of headaches, migraines are still in the minority. Headaches, in general, may result from chemical, environmental, emotional, or physical sources, and/or any combination thereof.

They could be caused by anything from food allergies and sensitivity to scents or perfume, to emotional stress and jaw clenching, hormonal fluctuations, or a shortage of blood or oxygen to your head caused by poor posture.

In the latter case, visiting a chiropractor and learning proper posture techniquescould help resolve recurring headaches. If your headache stems from tight muscles, myofascial release may be part of the answer. Electrosensitivity could also be part of the problem, so take note of where you are and what gadgets are nearby when symptoms strike.

A migraine headache is characterized by intense throbbing or pulsing, typically in one area or side of your head, and is commonly accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and extreme sensitivity to light and sound. 

Due to its profoundly debilitating nature, this may be one instance where you could justify popping a pill for instant relief. Unfortunately, migraine medications have a particularly poor efficacy rate. Most migraine drugs tend to work only 50 percent of the time, in 50 percent of people... They can also cause severe side effects.

Interestingly, another recent study6 found that expectation appears to play a very important role in how you respond to migraine treatment. And, if the placebo effect is instrumental in alleviating serious migraine pain, it stands to reason that treatment for less severe forms of headache might be influenced in the same manner.

Migraine Study Gives Indication of the Power of Suggestion...

The study7 in question, performed by researchers from Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, is a fascinating demonstration of the power of your mind and the placebo effect. In short, your expectations about the drug you’re given may be just as important as the drug itself when it comes to reaping results. As reported by Science Daily:8

“[The researchers] took advantage of the recurring nature of migraine headaches to compare the effects of drug treatments and placebos in seven separate migraine attacks in each of 66 individuals. Their findings uncovered several key points:

1) The benefits of the migraine drug Maxalt (rizatriptan) increased when patients were told they were receiving an effective drug for the treatment of acute migraine;

2) When the identities of Maxalt tablets and placebo pills were switched, patients reported similar reductions in pain from placebo pills labeled as Maxalt as from Maxalt tablets labeled as placebo; and

3) Study subjects reported pain relief even when they knew the pill they were receiving was a placebo, compared with no treatment at all.”

According to the authors, the placebo effect accounted for more than 50 percentof the therapeutic value of the drug! As explained by co-author Ted Kaptchuk, Director of the Program in Placebo Studies and Therapeutic Encounter at Harvard Medical School:9

"This study untangled and reassembled the clinical effects of placebo and medication in a unique manner. Very few, if any, experiments have compared the effectiveness of medication under different degrees of information in a naturally recurring disease.

Our discovery showing that subjects' reports of pain were nearly identical when they were told that an active drug was a placebo as when they were told that a placebo was an active drug demonstrates that the placebo effect is an unacknowledged partner for powerful medications."

Migraine Prevention Strategy #1: Avoid Common Triggers

Besides only working about half of the time in half of those taking them, many migraine medications can also cause intense side effects such as “medication overuse headache,” which often occurs when people take too much of a headache drug.

Worse yet, if you take tryptamine-based drugs, which bind to serotonin receptors to constrict your cranial blood vessels, but your pain is not due to engorged blood vessels, then constricting them can potentially do harm. Serious cardiovascular events, including heart attack and stroke, are in fact side effects of these types of drugs.

Fortunately, there are better ways to treat migraines than pharmaceuticals. Learning how to prevent them from occurring in the first place is your best bet. First, you’ll want to make sure you avoid potential triggers. While there are many potential triggers (and what triggers a migraine for one might not trigger it in another), the following are some of the most commonly reported:

Food and drink: Many people experience migraines when they eat certain foods, especially: wheat, dairy, sugar, artificial preservatives or chemical additives, cured or processed meats, alcohol (especially red wine and beer), aspartame, caffeine, and MSG. Too much or too little coffee/caffeine can also trigger an attack	Changes in sleeping cycle: Both missing sleep and oversleeping can trigger a migraine	Hormones: Some women experience migraines before or during their periods, during pregnancy or during menopause. Others may get migraines from hormonal medications like birth control pills or hormone replacement therapy
Allergies: Including food allergies and food sensitivities, and chemical sensitivities	Stress/Post-stress: Any kind of emotional trauma can trigger a migraine, even after the stress has passed	External stimuli: Bright lights, fluorescent lights, loud noises, and strong smells (even pleasant ones) can trigger a migraine
Dehydration and/or hunger.Skipping meals or fasting are also common triggers	Physical exertion:Extremely intense exercise or even sex has been known to bring on migraines	Weather changes, and/or changes in altitude

The Diet Connection

From an anecdotal perspective, the Paleo diet has helped quite a few people rid themselves of recurring headaches, including migraines. The Paleo diet can be summarized as “any food that can be eaten without being processed.” That excludes grains, bread, or pasta, and no pasteurized dairy, but does include lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, some nuts and oils along with wild caught fish, organic pastured poultry, and grass-fed meats. 

While the Paleo diet has many benefits, I believe it can be improved upon. The biggest factor is most people on Paleo consume far too much protein. I believe it would be far healthier to swap the protein for healthy fat. Additionally, once you improve your insulin and leptin resistance you no longer need to restrict your starchy carbs as much. You can easily mold your diet around the principles of Paleo eating by following my nutrition plan. In fact, my eating plan typically reduces migraines by about 80 percent, as it virtually eliminates all common food-related causes of headaches.

There’s plenty of research backing up the headache/food allergy connection.10 For example, research published in the journalLancet back in 197911 showed that migraineurs with food antigen immunoreactivity experienced profound relief when put on an elimination diet. Another randomized, double blind, cross-over study published in 201012 found that a six-week long diet restriction produced a statistically significant reduction in migraines in those diagnosed with migraine without aura. Some of the top migraine-inducing foods identified in the medical literature include: 13, 14

Wheat and gluten	Cow’s milk (including yoghurt and ice cream)	Grain cereals	Cane sugar	Yeast
Corn	Citrus	Eggs	Aspartame	MSG

If you suspect you might have a food allergy, I suggest doing a diet elimination challenge. Simply remove all foods that contain what you believe you might be allergic to and see if your symptoms improve over the next several days. Keep in mind that depending on your typical headache/migraine frequency, you may need to avoid the suspected food for a few weeks in order to evaluate whether it had an effect or not.

To confirm the results, reintroduce the food or drink (on an empty stomach). If the suspected food is the culprit, you will generally be able to feel the symptoms return within an hour, although migraines can sometimes have a longer lag time than, say, bloating or drowsiness.

Headaches May Be Caused by Common Nutritional Deficiencies

Nutritional deficiencies can also play a major role in headaches and migraines. According to experts like Dr. Robert Barry, one particularly important underlying problem involved with migraines is mitochondrial dysfunction. Ubiquinol—the reduced form of Coenzyme Q10—plays a vital role in ATP production, which is the basic fuel for your mitochondria. Your body does produce ubiquinol naturally. In fact, it is the predominant form in most healthy cells, tissues and organs. However, with rampant pollution and poor diet, mitochondrial dysfunction has become increasingly common, warranting supplementation with either ubiquinol or CoQ10.

One study published in the journal Neurology15 found that CoQ10 was superior to a placebo in preventing migraines and reducing severity. Of the patients who received 100 mg of CoQ10 three times a day, 50 percent reported significantly reduced frequency of headaches compared to only 14 percent of those who took the placebo. Other research has shown that ubiquinol, the reduced form of CoQ10, is far more effective than CoQ10 due to its superior bioavailability, so while it costs a bit more, it may provide you with better results.

Vitamin D deficiency can also play a role. According to research presented at the 50th Annual Meeting of the American Headache Society16 (2010), nearly 42 percent of patients with chronic migraine were deficient in vitamin D. The study also showed that the longer you suffered from chronic migraines, the more likely you are to be vitamin D deficient. Other vitamin deficiencies linked to headaches include vitamins B2 (riboflavin), B6, B12, and folic acid.

A 2009 study17 evaluated the effect of 2 mg of folic acid, 25 mg vitamin B6, and 400 micrograms of vitamin B12 in 52 patients diagnosed with migraine with aura. Compared to the placebo group, those receiving these supplements experienced a 50 percent reduction in migraine disability over a six-month period. Previous studies, such as a 2004 study in the European Journal of Neurology,18 have also reported that high doses of B2 (riboflavin) can help prevent migraine attacks. For example, in one study patients who received 400 mg riboflavin per day experienced a 50 percent reduction in migraine frequency after three months.

Magnesium can also be a helpful supplement for headache and migraine sufferers, as it helps relax blood vessel constriction in your brain. The best magnesium supplement I know of is magnesium threonate as it penetrates cell membranes, including the mitochondria. No other magnesium supplement does this. Interestingly, some of the best drugs used to treat migraines are calcium channel blockers, and that is how magnesium works. Supplemental magnesium would be FAR safer than a calcium channel blocker.

Tips and Tricks for Immediate Relief Without Drugs

While prevention is key, you’re not stuck with the drug paradigm should a headache strike. For acute situations, there are several safe, healthy alternatives that you can try. I recommend testing all of them, in various combinations, to find what works best for you. I’ve listed a few below, but please feel free to add any approaches that you have found helpful for the treatment of migraines. There are some really bright people who receive this newsletter and I am sure they have some phenomenal solutions.

• Try the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). This simple process by itself tends to provide relief 50-80 percent of the time and, in some cases, the relief is complete and permanent. More sophisticated uses by a licensed EFT practitioner19may be required for some migraine sufferers.
• Stimulate your body's natural painkilling ability. By putting pressure on a nerve just under your eyebrow, you can cause your pituitary gland to release painkilling endorphins immediately. Massaging your ears, ear lobes, and the "crown" of your head -- the ring of muscles that circle your head where a crown would sit—can also provide some relief.
• Apply hot and cold packs. For some people, heat will do the trick, while others get more relief from cold. Experiment to see which one works for you, but avoid extreme temperatures. Alternating between the two may also work. Placing your hands and feet in hot (but not scalding) water, while placing a cold pack at the base of your skull, is yet another trick that works for some.
• Take anywhere from 1/2 to 3 teaspoons of cayenne pepper in an 8 oz glass of water (hot or cold). Endorphins are released by your brain when the cayenne hits your stomach lining. Another alternative is to swallow a dollop of wasabi paste.
• Sniff green apple scent. One study found that the scent significantly relieved migraine pain. This may also work with other scents that you enjoy so consulting with an aromatherapist might be beneficial. Other aromas that stand out of the crowd include peppermint, sandalwood, lavender, and eucalyptus.

Your Mind as a Powerful Ally

Preventing migraines and other recurring types of headaches begins by avoiding the triggers. Most often this means eating healthy whole foods (avoiding most processed ones) and managing your stress effectively. Following my eating plan has provided relief for many, although it’s not an overnight cure. Dietary changes do take some time to reveal its benefits. Avoiding wheat, grains, sugar, and all fluids but water seem to be particularly effective.

Regular exercise may also help to keep headaches and migraines at bay by improving your response to stress along with the underlying inflammatory conditions that can trigger them. Ideally, these are the lifestyle strategies to focus on if you suffer from recurring headaches. That said, should a headache strike and you need immediate relief, try one or more of the tips and tricks listed above.

Also consider whether your headaches may be precipitated by poor posture, or being surrounded by too many electrical gadgets or Wi-Fi. If you think either of those issues is at play, consider the appropriate remedies to address them. For the former, consider seeing a qualified chiropractor and adapt a regimen to address your posture. Two of my favorite strategies for correcting postural problems are The Gokhale Method and Foundation Training.

If you think you may be electrosensitive, addressing your use of electronics, such as your cell phone and computer, will be the order of the day. To learn more, you can find a large number of articles on this issue on my dedicated EMF page.

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