The association Between Riboflavin Intake and Incidence of Migraine Symptoms: A Review on Evidences Between 1994-2014

Worldwide, migraine is a chronic disease that it annually affects 6% of men and 18% of women. It is a common disorder in childhood and adolescence periods. Studies have indicated that riboflavin intake can play important role in reduction of migraine symptoms. Therefore, the purpose of present study was to review the researches which conducted in field of relationship between riboflavin and symptoms of migraine.

This systematic review was conducted by searching on PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct and Web of Science data bases and using keywords including: “migraine”, “headache”, “riboflavin” and “vitamin B2”. In this article, we were reviewed clinical trial, cross-sectional, retrospective and prospective studies which published during 1994 to 2014. Inclusion criteria were studies that diagnosed migraine with IHS criteria and they were performed on human, and exclusion criteria included non-English language articles and studies that investigated headaches as the main aim.

of 76 articles we found, the final analysis was based on 7 articles. Investigated studies on adults showed that riboflavin supplementation in high dose (400 mg) not only improve the migraine symptoms, but also have a prophylactic or preventive role in development of migraine attacks. Studies that were performed among children showed that taking 400 mg riboflavin improve migraine symptoms, but taking lower doses such as 200 or 50 mg, showed no significant effect on migraine symptoms.

Riboflavin in high-doses (400 mg) probably reduces migraine symptoms both among adults and children. But due to few studies in this field, further studies are recommended.