Mustard versus ice-pick headaches

Q. I have had an ice-pick headache for days. I just read on your website that a spoonful of mustard might help, and at this point I am desperate to try anything.

I never buy into home remedies like this, but as they say, any port in a storm. So I swallowed a spoonful of yellow mustard 15 minutes ago. Now I have no more stabbing pains.

A. Ice-pick headaches are described as sharp, sudden, excruciating pain. It is somewhat unusual for them to last for days.

Some time ago, we heard from an individual who found that swallowing a teaspoon of yellow mustard offered relief from long-lasting ice-pick headaches. We are glad to learn it helped you, too.

Q. I recently read an article about a physician who is advising people on strategies to avoid developing Alzheimer’s disease. Besides cutting sugar and carbs, he advises eating berries and drinking cocoa. The doctor puts CocoaVia in his own daily coffee.

Dark, unsweetened CocoaVia turns my black decaf coffee into a very pleasant-tasting mocha hot drink and only adds 30 calories. Have you any information about this product, side effects and results?

A. We checked a report from ConsumerLab.com on cocoa powders and extracts. CocoaVia from Mars Symbioscience scored very highly on tests of purity and flavanol concentration. Cocoa flavanols are the antioxidant compounds responsible for lowering blood pressure, preventing blood clots and increasing good HDL cholesterol.

Preliminary research indicates that cocoa extracts may help prevent the buildup of beta-amyloid compounds that accumulate in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients (Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, Vol. 41, No. 2, 2014).

Other fruits and berries also contain such compounds. We can think of no adverse effects from putting cocoa in your coffee.

In their column, Joe and Teresa Graedon answer letters from readers. Write to them in care of this newspaper or email them via their Web site: www.PeoplesPharmacy.com. Their newest book is “Top Screwups Doctors Make and How to Avoid Them.”

2014 King Features Syndicate, Inc.