So you heard magnesium is good for migraine prevention…but there are so many kinds of magnesium! From oxide to chloride to glycinate to citrate, it can be confusing. How do you know which one to use?

The most important thing to know for migraine sufferers is absorption. Some forms of magnesium such as magnesium oxide and magnesium sulfate, are poorly absorbed and therefore have low bioavailability. That means the magnesium is not getting to where it needs to go to prevent your migraines.

Organic forms of magnesium, such as citrate and glycinate among others, tend to have higher bioavailability.

Magnesium citrate has been studied most extensively for migraine prevention. Most studies evaluating the effectiveness of magnesium on migraines used magnesium citrate. Magnesium citrate, at higher doses, can have loose bowel movements as a side effect, and so there is a common myth that this means it is poorly absorbed. Whenever you ingest magnesium, a proportion gets absorbed and the rest does not. The higher the dose of magnesium you ingest, the more that gets absorbed, but at the same time there is also more that does not get absorbed. The portion that is not absorbed draws water into the intestine resulting in diarrhea.

The American and Canadian Headache Societies both recommend magnesium citrate for migraine prevention.

The American and Canadian Headache Societies (AHS and CHS) have in the past also suggested considering magnesium glycinate due to a lower risk of diarrhea, though there are no specific studies demonstrating its effectiveness.

Magnesium L-threonate has made headlines recently because a research study showed that it enters the brain more readily than other forms of magnesium. On the surface, it would seem that this would be important for migraine prevention. However, migraine treatments don’t need to enter the brain itself to be effective. A good example is the triptan class of medications. Triptans are commonly used migraine abortives and are usually very effective at relieving migraine attacks. Triptans do not cross the blood-brain barrier, but rather act on nerves outside the brain and prevent the pain signals from traveling along the nerves into the brain. It should be noted that no study has proven magnesium L-threonate is effective for migraines, and it is among the most expensive forms of magnesium on the market.

MigraineMD uses magnesium citrate because it is the most evidence-based form of magnesium.

- Neurologist and Co-Founder of NeuroNaturals