The Role of Curcumin Supplementation with Migraine

ObjectivesMigraine is a repeated, chronic and neurovascular disease that adversely affects the quality of life and increases the risk of cerebral lesion. Curcumin, the orange-yellow substance of turmeric, may possess anti-headache performance according to several studies. Thus, this study set out to meta-analytically access the anti-headache effect of curcumin supplementation in patients with migraine. MethodsFive databases were searched as of September 30, 2022 to identify all eligible randomized controlled trials. The random-effect Hunter-Schmidt model was used to calculate the effect sizes based on the heterogeneity. The PROSPERO registration number for this meta-analysis is CRD42023409829 (https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/). ResultsFour studies involving 170 patients finally met our inclusion criteria. In the results, curcumin supplementation showed a significant difference in the severity of migraine symptoms compared with placebo (Hedgess g= -0.75, 95% confidence interval (CI) =-1.44 to -0.07, P= 0.03). The results of subgroup analyses indicated that curcumin supplementation was statistically significant in reducing the duration of migraine in patients over 35 years of age (Hedgess g= -0.63, 95%CI= -1.07 to -0.19, P< 0.01) and high-dose curcumin significantly reduced the severity of migraine symptoms (Hedgess g= -1.65, 95%CI= -2.32 to -0.97, P< 0.01). ConclusionsCurcumin supplementation may relieve the severity of headache symptoms in migraine sufferers and appear to be more effective for the headache duration in patients over 35 years of age.