Background: Patients with migraine often also suffer from gastrointestinal disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease or celiac disease. All these diseases share increased intestinal permeability ("leaky gut") and thus increased inflammatory activity. There is an increase in proinflammatoric cytokines in the serum, which in turn can trigger migraine attacks. Probiotics can have a positive effect on the intestinal epithelium and reduce inflammatory activity. A first uncontrolled, small study of 39 migraineurs showed a decrease in the rate of attacks under the daily intake of a probiotic.
Method: In an uncontrolled observational study, the influence of a specially formulated multispecies probiotic on the frequency of migraine attacks and the intensity of migraine-associated complaints was recorded. The self-assessment of 1,020 patients was evaluated.
Results: Over the treatment period of 8 weeks, the number of headache days was reduced from 2 to 1.4 days per week. The headache intensity decreased from 5.1 to 2.1 points (0 = not present to 6 = very intensive). The migraine-associated complaints were reduced and the use of painkillers halved. All results were statistically significant (p ≤ 0.001).
Conclusion: It can be suggested that this multispecies probiotic formulation has a positive influence on intensity and frequency of migraine attacks. However, randomized, placebo-controlled trials are required for further confirmation.
Keywords: leaky gut theory; microbiome; migraine prophylaxis; probiotic formulation.