Lippia alba (Mill.) N. E. Brown hydroethanolic extract of the leaves is effective in the treatment of migraine in women.

BACKGROUND

There is no universally accepted and effective prophylaxis of migraine headache episodes. We aimed to investigate the effects of Lippia alba (Mill.) N. E. Brown (chemotype geranial-carvenone) in the treatment of migraine patients.

METHODS

Twenty-one women were enrolled in a prospective, phase 2, non-controlled cohort study to orally receive hydroethanolic extract of L. alba leaves. Symptom intensity and impact were assessed using MIDAS and HIT-6 instruments before and after 2 months of treatment.

RESULTS

We observed a significant decrease on HIT-6 total score, as well as MIDAS number of missed days, number of headache days, and pain intensity. More than 70% of patients experienced a minimum 50% reduction on pain frequency.

CONCLUSIONS

Treatment with L. alba leaves (geranial-carvenone) hydroethanolic extract is a cheap, safe, widely available, highly effective therapy to reduce both the intensity and the frequency of headache episodes of women with migraine. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01259947.