Butterbur extract supplement, migraine headache studies, asthma, allergies, health benefit, review of dosage and research

The butterbur plant (Petasites hybridus) is a shrub found throughout Europe as well as parts of Asia and North America. Butterbur that has been used medicinally for centuries to treat cough, asthma, and skin wounds. The butterbur plant can grow to a height of three feet and is usually found in wet, marshy ground, in damp forests, and adjacent to rivers or streams.

Active ingredients in butterbur extract
Petasin, a kind of sesquiterpene ester, appears to be a major active compound of butterbur extract. Petasin has inhibitory activities on leukotriene generation in eosinophils and neutrophils. This indicates that it may have anti-inflammatory and anti-allergy properties although butterbur does not seem to be effective in blocking histamine release. Butterbur also helps reduce smooth muscle spasm.

 Petadolex ( Butterbur ) 60 Softgels - Enzymatic Therapy

Petadolex contains the patented extract of butterbur that supports healthy blood vessel tone in the brain, as well as normal blood flow in the brain.* Butterbur has been the subject of several placebo-controlled clinical studies.

Petadolex is standardized to contain 15% of butterbur's key ingredient, petasin. It's also guaranteed to be pyrrolizidine alkaloid free, so you can use it with confidence. Pyrrolizidine alkaloids are toxic compounds that can harm the liver. Studies demonstrate patented Petadolex is safe and well tolerated.

 

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Butterbur Supplement Facts:
Purple Butterbur (Petasites hybridus) 50 mg
    (Petadolex brand) Root Extract standardized to contain 7.5 mg petasins and to be free of pyrrolizidine alkaloids.

Recommendations: One butterbur softgel three times daily, or 2 softgels 2 times daily for the first four weeks. Thereafter, one softgel twice daily.

Butterbur side effects and safety, caution
Butterbur has not been studied extensively enough to determine its side effects, but thus far it appears to be safe.

Dosage
Typically, butterbur extracts are standardized to contain a minimum of 7.5 mg of petasin and isopetasin. The adult dosage ranges from 50-100 mg twice daily with meals.

Medical uses for Butterbur root

Allergies - Allergic Rhinitis
Butterbur may be helpful for allergic rhinitis although the research thus far with butterbur leading to relief of allergies has not been consistent. Most, but not all, studies support the use of butterbur for allergic rhinitis.

Butterbur and Asthma / Bronchitis
Various parts of the butterbur plant have been used for centuries to treat bronchial asthma and whooping cough. Butterbur's possible effectiveness in treating respiratory disorders such as asthma and bronchitis is attributed to the antispasmodic and anti-inflammatory properties of the petasin constituent.

Petasites extract Ze 339 inhibits allergen-induced Th2 responses, airway inflammation and airway hyperreactivity in mice.
Phytother Res. 2009 Oct 13.
The herbal Petasites hybridus butterbur extract is known to have leukotriene inhibiting properties, and therefore might inhibit allergic diseases. Butterbur extract has been reported to inhibit leukotriene activity, reduced allergic airway inflammation and airway hyperresponsiveness by inhibiting the production of the Th2 cytokines IL-4 and IL-5, and RANTES.

Butterbur and Migraine Headache
 Two clinical studies using 50 mg and 75 mg of a standardized butterbur extract twice daily for 12 weeks demonstrated its effectiveness as a prophylactic treatment for migraines. When used to treat migraines, administration is prophylactic and supplementation should be carried out daily for a few weeks and then tapered until migraine incidence begins to increase. Butterbur may work by preventing peptidoleukotriene biosynthesis. As with many herbs and medicines, it is likely that some users will find butterbur reduces the severity or frequency of their migraine headache, whereas others may not find it to be helpful. How butterbur interacts with standard pharmaceutical medicines -- such as beta blockers or triptans -- used for prevention or treatment of migraines is currently not known.

An extract of the root of a plant called butterbur (Petasites hybridus) significantly reduces the frequency of migraine headaches. An article published in the December 2004 issue of Neurology reports a trial that compared butterbur with an inactive placebo. Researchers compared the efficacy of two different doses of butterbur extract to that of a placebo in about 230 migraine patients. They had experienced two to six attacks per month for the 3 months prior to the study. The number of migraine headache attacks per month was reduced by 45 percent in the group that took 75 milligrams of butterbur twice daily, compared with a reduction of 28 percent in the placebo group during the 16-week trial. A group that took 50 milligrams of butterbur twice daily experienced a 32 percent decrease, not significantly different from placebo. The butterbur extract was well tolerated, the team reports, with burping as the only adverse event occurring more frequently in the active treatment groups. There were no changes in blood pressure, heart rate, or routine laboratory tests.

I would like to thank you for alerting me to butterbur's effect on migraines. I was having migraines several times a month, some lasting days, and nothing I took helped substantially, including feverfew, 5HTP, and Imitrex. I have now been taking butterbur for two months, and I had had only two mild headaches in the first month and none in the last month. I am going to taper my dose a bit, as is recommended, since I've been taking the highest dose.

Gastrointestinal Disorders
 A German study found extracts of butterbur blocked ethanol-induced gastric damage and reduced ulcerations of the small intestine caused by indomethacin, an anti-inflammatory drug used to treat arthritic conditions. The results of this study were attributed to inhibition of lipoxygenase activity and leukotriene biosynthesis.

Somatoform disorders
Fixed herbal drug combination with and without butterbur (Ze 185) for the treatment of patients with somatoform disorders: randomized, placebo-controlled Phytother Res. 2009 Sep;23(9): Melzer J, Schrader E, Brattström A, Schellenberg R, Saller R. Institute of Complementary Medicine, Department for Internal Medicine, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland.
Herbal drugs are often used in patients with somatoform disorders yet, the available evidence is limited. The aim of the present short-term study was to evaluate in a pharmaco-clinical trial the additional benefit of butterbur in a fixed herbal drug combination (Ze 185 = 4-combination versus 3-combination without butterbur and placebo) in patients with somatoform disorders. For a 2-week treatment in patients with somatization disorder (F45.0) and undifferentiated somatoform disorder (F45.1), 182 patients were randomized for a 3-arm trial (butterbur root, valerian root, passionflower herb, lemon balm leaf versus valerian root, passionflower herb, lemon balm leaf versus placebo). Anxiety (visual analogue scale - VAS) and depression (Beck's Depression Inventory - BDI) served as primary parameters, Clinical Global Impression (CGI) was a secondary parameter.The 4-combination was significantly superior to the 3-combination and placebo (4-combination > 3-combination > placebo) in all the primary and secondary parameters (PP-population). Analysis of the ITT population confirmed these results. As to safety, no serious adverse events occurred. In total 9 non-serious adverse events were documented but the distribution did not differ significantly between the treatment groups. This herbal preparation (Ze185) showed to be an efficacious and safe short-term treatment in patients with somatoform disorders.

Butterbur Herb Research Update
Treating intermittent allergic rhinitis: a prospective, randomized, placebo and antihistamine-controlled study of Butterbur extract Ze 339.
Phytother Res. 2005 Jun;19(6):530-7.
Intermittent allergic rhinitis causes patients distress and impairs their work performance and quality of life. Prospective, randomized, double-blind, parallel group comparison study of Butterbur extract (Ze 339; 8 mg total petasine; one tablet thrice-daily), fexofenadine (Telfast 180, one tablet once-daily) and placebo in 330 patients. Protocol and analysis were according to the latest guidelines on new treatments for allergic rhinitis. Findings: Both active treatments were individually significantly superior to placebo in improving symptoms of allergic rhinitis, while there were no differences between the two active treatments. Superiority to placebo was similarly shown during the evening/night, by physicians' own assessment and by responder rates. Both treatments were well tolerated.  Butterbur and fexofenadine are comparably efficacious relative to placebo. Despite being a herbal drug, butterbur has now been subject to a series of well controlled trials and should be considered as an alternative treatment for allergic rhinitis.

Butterbur not effective for intermittent allergic rhinitis
Researchers report that butterbur was no more effective than placebo at relieving symptoms of intermittent allergic rhinitis, more commonly known as hay fever. However, lead author Dr. Brian J. Lipworth of the University of Dundee in Scotland found earlier this year that the herb was more effective than placebo and as effective as the allergy drug Allegra (fexofenadine) at treating year-round allergic rhinitis. "We need much bigger studies in intermittent allergic rhinitis in more severe patients comparing butterbur versus placebo," Lipworth said. He said he was sure that larger studies would show that the herb is more effective than placebo. The active ingredient in butterbur, also known as Petasites hybridus, is petasin, which has been shown to block leukotrienes, substances that are thought to play a role in lung inflammation. Petasin has also been shown to inhibit compounds called histamines that are released by the immune system during allergic reactions. Previous research has found that butterbur may be as effective as some allergy medications, but studies in which the herb is compared with a placebo have not been performed. Therefore, Dr. Brian J. Lipworth and his colleagues compared butterbur to placebo in 35 men and women with seasonal allergies to grass pollen. Participants were randomly assigned to take butterbur or a placebo twice a day for 2 weeks. Symptoms did not improve significantly in people taking butterbur or the placebo. There were also no significant differences in quality of life or nasal air flow. Despite the lack of a significant effect, the researchers did detect signs that butterbur may have been more helpful than placebo for people with the most severe symptoms. This trend was not statistically significant, which means it could have been a result of chance, but Lipworth's team speculates that the herb may have real benefits for people with severe allergy symptoms. Neither treatment caused serious side effects. SOURCE: Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, July 2004.

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Emails received
I was having migraines several times a month, some lasting days, and nothing I took helped substantially, including  5HTP, feverfew and sumatripan. I have now been taking butterbur extract supplement for two months, and I had had only two mild headaches in the first month (I don't think either lasted more than 1 or 2 hours) and none in the last month. I am going to taper my dosage a bit, as is recommended, since I've been taking the highest dosage.