The effects of concurrent Coenzyme Q10, L-carnitine supplementation in migraine prophylaxis: A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at L-Carnitine in the context of migraine.

The present study aimed to determine the effects of combined supplementation of Coenzyme Q10 with L-carnitine on mitochondrial metabolic disorders marker and migraine symptoms among migraine patients.

Who Took Part

The study group was 56 men.

The age groups tagged for this paper are young adults and adults, both men and women.

A total of 56 men and women, between 20-40 years of age with migraine headache, participated in this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel study.

The measurements were completed at the beginning and end of the study.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and parallel-group.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got L-Carnitine and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Blinding on both sides kept the men and researchers unaware of who received L-Carnitine.

Some men received a placebo instead of L-Carnitine, giving a reference point.

Groups ran in parallel: each of the men stayed in one arm throughout.

The primary outcome was severity of headache attacks.

The secondary outcomes included duration, frequency of headache attacks, the headache diary results (HDR), and serum levels of lactate.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Carnitine, Dietary Supplements, Lactic Acid, Migraine Disorders and Ubiquinone.

Author keywords: Coenzyme Q10, L-carnitine, migraine symptoms and serum lactate.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of L-Carnitine in 56 men in people with migraine.

Results are reported in around 2 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2019 (Cephalalgia : an international journal of headache), a journal based in England.

More context: the L-Carnitine compound page, Migraine research.