UNDER THE WEATHER

The health problems worsened by winter. This week: Migraine STUDIES into the seasonality of migraines have found peaks in spring. One theory is that there is a link to falls in vitamin D that occur over winter.

In a recent trial at the University of Aalborg in Denmark, migraine sufferers were given a daily vitamin D supplement (4,000 international units) for 24 weeks. Their incidence of migraine fell, on average by 50 per cent. ‘Neuroinflammation and sensitisation are involved in migraine and vitamin D can moderate those,’ said Dr Parisa Gazerani, the study’s lead author. ‘It doesn’t help everyone and more work needs to be done, but it is possible supplementation could reverse the condition.’