2023-09-01 17:39:24
During a migraine attack, people experience extreme headaches, nausea, and sensitivity to light. On the internet, a simple recipe made from lemon juice and salt promises quick relief from acute symptoms. That’s wrong. Experts and medical professionals have told AFP that this home remedy has no effect on migraines.
In several posts on Facebook that have been shared thousands of times, a “recipe with lemon and salt promises (…) to stop migraines immediately”. Below the post is a blog post linking touting the “natural remedy for migraines.” Similar claims were also shared on Telegram.
The recipe is described in the blog post: “Juice of one organic lemon / 1 teaspoon of pink Himalayan salt / 1 large glass of water”. These three ingredients should be mixed and drunk and then one only has to wait for “the miraculous effect of this remedy”.
According to the definition of the German Migraine and Headache Society (DMKG), migraine is “a complex neurological disease, a temporary dysfunction of the brain. Its main symptom is recurring headache attacks, which can be accompanied by neurological and vegetative disorders.” The cause of a migraine cannot be cured. To relieve acute symptoms, the DMKG recommends painkillers such as aspirin, ibuprofen, and paracetamol, and a darkened, quiet environment.
“There is no remedy that immediately stops migraines or a migraine attack. That would also be pathophysiologically completely illogical.” Karl Messlinger, Professor of Physiology and Pathophysiology at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, wrote this in an email to AFP on August 29, 2023. The two main components of the recipe from the Internet are ineffective in migraines. “There is no scientific evidence that lemon juice or any other acid can affect migraines.”
Even the intake of large amounts of salt has no positive effect on an acute migraine attack, according to Messlinger. “Himalayan salt is regular salt that’s been credited with all sorts of effects that can’t be scientifically proven.” Eating salt is even unhealthy and possibly dangerous because it can lead to high blood pressure, according to the doctor. This is also confirmed by studies by the German Consumer Advice Center.
Arne May, Professor of Neurology and Head of the Headache Outpatient Clinic at the Hamburg Eppendorf University Hospital, agrees: “The Himalayan salt, i.e. table salt with certain impurities, has no effect on migraines.” A typical symptom of migraines is nausea. “If you then also consume that much salt, I can imagine that this leads to vomiting.” In any case, many patients feel so bad during a migraine attack that they cannot even swallow the recommended tablets, let alone a solution of lemon juice and salt.
In fact, in a 2016 study, researchers at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Iran tested the effects of lemon syrup (without the addition of salt), a traditional Persian remedy, on migraine sufferers. According to the study, the syrup has a “preliminary beneficial effect” in “reducing pain intensity and duration of attacks in patients with migraine headaches.” The drug has no influence on the frequency of attacks.
The scientists interviewed by AFP were critical of the study: “Three substances were given in the study. Lemon syrup. A placebo, i.e. another substance that also tastes lemony . Red.) given,” says Arne May. However, the structure of the study is already flawed, simply because one tablet and two drinks are given. So there is no blinding, i.e. the concealment of which drug a study participant is receiving. “According to the study, lemon juice is said to have an effect on the intensity of the pain and the duration of the seizures. I think the effect, if it exists at all, is so weak that I wouldn’t recommend it. We have drugs that are a hundredfold have effectiveness.” The DMKG provides an overview of acute and prophylactic medication for migraines.
Charly Gaul, professor of neurology and special pain therapy and founder of the Frankfurt Headache Center, notes that the study was not published in a “standard headache journal”, which does not surprise him, as it does not meet the quality requirements. He also criticizes the lack of blinding of the substances. In addition, “the treatment was only for 4 weeks. A period that is too short to measure migraine prophylactic effects with substances that take some time to take effect.” According to Gaul, studies should be based on treatment lasting at least three months. The guidelines for studies of the International Headache Society were obviously not applied to the study.
Arne May knows the advice to drink lemon juice for acute migraines: “It is often recommended in combination with coffee. Sometimes a raw egg yolk is added.” This idea came from a time when no effective drugs were available. “If anything, the caffeine in the coffee has a pain-relieving function here and not the lemon juice. But caffeine hasn’t been recommended for 20 years either.”
According to May, research into migraines has made huge progress over the past 30 years. “We now understand how drugs work down to the molecular cell level.” In the meantime, the vast majority of patients can be helped very well. “For treatment, we have a huge arsenal of drugs that work very well and safely in acute cases. And we have drugs that ensure that migraines occur much less frequently in the long term.”
Charly Gaul also does not see the mixture of coffee and lemon juice as an adequate treatment for migraine: “This may lead to relief from the attack in some of those affected, but based on clinical experience based on many years of treatment of migraine patients, a fully developed, severe migraine attack can certainly not be treated in this way.”
Conclusion: It is claimed online that lemon juice mixed with sea salt is an effective remedy for migraines. That’s not true. Doctors told AFP that the drug has no positive effects on a migraine attack. The salt in the recipe could even be harmful.]
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