Did You Know that Butterbur Extract can Help with Migraines?

View PDF | Print View
by: Martino
Total views: 9
Word Count: 478
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2010 Time: 11:25 PM
0 comments

Migraine equals pain, the kind that we are not going to have a break from once it strikes. It accounts for a significant fraction of emergency room visits, often getting in the way of work. In fact, studies say that more often than not migraine sufferers do not feel fit to work every time they go through an attack, let alone get the job done. It is for this reason why it has given rise to significant concerns at the workplace. Apart from its role in one's decline in productivity and its consequent economic impact, migraine is just unbearable and its onset signals sufferers to seek immediate relief in ready analgesics and herbal remedies, including the much talked-about butterbur extract.

Petasites are a group of rhizomatous plants more commonly known as butterbur. The first known medicinal use of butterbur can be traced back to the ancient times when Greek physicians, most notable Dioscurides, applied the extracts to body surfaces to treat skin sores and other types of ulcers. In the Middle Ages, the plant proved to be of great help against infections especially during the outbreak of bubonic plague and the following years when the infamous Black Death wreaked havoc across Europe. Also, it has been a spiritual healing practice of American Indians to make use of butterbur, its roots to be exact, as a remedy for open wounds, sores, and headache, and up to now reported to have positive effects against nausea, migraine, and inflammatory diseases.

Today butterbur is often referred to as anti-inflammatory, and is associated with aiding allergies as well as migraines. The extracts of the plant contains two active anti-inflammatory agents: petasin and isopetasin. Both of these compounds have properties against allergic reactions and muscle spasms, acting on vascular smooth muscle cells in blood vessels. A lot of ongoing researches related to petasin and isopetasin point to their activities at a molecular level that includes interfering in the synthesis of chemical compounds in the body, particularly prostaglandins and leukotrienes, two families of signaling molecules that supervise the inflammation process, with an added emphasis on butterbur extracts' role against prostaglandin, the pain chemical.

Molecules in the human body called eicosanoids are important in sending messages to organs of all systems and creating network of communication among body tissues in these organs. Two eicosanoid groups called prostaglandins and luekotrienes are responsible for initiating inflammation, including allergic reactions. Prostaglandins control the widening of the muscles in the region where inflammation occurs and signal neutrophils to enter the region and put an end to the inflammation process by fighting off harmful molecules. In the process of ridding your body with unwanted chemicals, prostaglandins sensitize the region to pain, including the severe throbbing of the head when migraine attacks. Petasin and isopetasin in butterbur extract ought to inhibit the pain prostaglandin causes.

About the Author

Butterbur Extract can help with migraine headaches. Find discount name brand vitamins and herbs like Butterbur Extract at VitaNet, LLC Vitamin Store. http://vitanetonline.com/