Alternative Health Blog

You might not put the kudzu weed and Yale University in the same sentence, but Dr. R. Andrew Sewell has done just that. As a researcher at Yale’s School of Medicine, Sewell has published an article on how kudzu extract or kudzu root appears to relieve patients with monster headaches technically called cluster headaches.

Sewell says trial and error by 235 patients in his study “may have discovered a new cure for their horrible disorder.” The kudzu remedies cited in the study, published in the January issue of the professional journal Headache, are all available over the counter and without a precription—though not without a history of success in that Chinese medical texts have noted kudzu as far back as 1,800 years ago.

The active ingredient in kudzu appears to able to increase blood flow in the brain. The most potent parts of the plant are the stems and roots.

The volunteer subjects in the study responded to email queries from Sewell and his Yale colleagues. More than 20 percent of the respondents suggested that self-treatment with kudzu was the right idea, while others cautioned that cluster headaches can cause serious pain and do require serious medical consultation.

About 10 percent of the subject contacted by email agreed to more detailed evaluation under supervised kudzu treatment. Nearly three of every four patients with episodic headaches reported fewer attacks while nearly 40 percent of them said the kudzu cut down on the severity and length of symptoms. For individuals with chronic cluster headaches, the improvements were similarly positive.

With kudzu treatment, 73 percent of the episodic group reported a decrease in attack frequency and 36 percent had a decrease in attack length. Among those with chronic cluster headaches, 60 percent reported a decrease in frequency and 40 percent reported a decline in headache length.

Kudzu, native to Asia, was introduced in the U.S. during the 1800s as a way to control erosion of the soil. It is now grows prodigiously in the southeast and even considered a threat to native plants. Now it appears the weed might be more medicinal than problematic.

Southerners know that kudzu has long been tried as a remedy for all sorts of ailments, including alcoholism, diarrhea, stomach flu, high blood pressure and, yes, headaches.

Sewell was impressed with the findings and is making plans to create a more exacting scientific investigation.

"Should these results be confirmed with a randomized clinical trial of standardized extracts," Sewell says, "kudzu may prove to have a role in the management of cluster headache."

Bob Condor blogs for Alternative Health Journal every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.