Trial reportNutrients2022
The Effect of Palmitoylethanolamide on Pain Intensity, Central and Peripheral Sensitization, and Pain Modulation in Healthy Volunteers-A Randomized, Double-Blinded, Placebo-Controlled Crossover Trial.
Trial report in Nutrients, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Palmitoylethanolamide in the Treatment of Chronic Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Double-Blind Randomized Controlled Trials.Nutrients · 2023Pooled it
- Effect ofNutrients · 2026Trial
- The Effect ofNutrients · 2026Trial
- Trial
- Trial
- Article
- Article
- Review
- Allodynia: A Review Article.Current pain and headache reports · 2025Review
- A Decades-Long Journey of Palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) for Chronic Neuropathic Pain Management: A Comprehensive Narrative Review.Pain and therapy · 2025Review
- Management of Fibromyalgia: Novel Nutraceutical Therapies Beyond Traditional Pharmaceuticals.Nutrients · 2025Review
- Multi-regional sequential pain syndrome.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Article
- Article
- Article
- Data-driven dynamic profiles of tonic heat pain perception in pain-free volunteers are associated with differences in anandamide levels.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Effectiveness of Palmitoylethanolamide (Levagen+) Compared to a Placebo for Reducing Pain, Duration, and Medication Use during Migraines in Otherwise Healthy Participants-A Double-Blind Randomised Controlled Study.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Palmitoylethanolamide causes dose-dependent changes in brain function and the lipidome.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2024Article
- The Safety of Drug Treatment in Patients with Neuropathic Pain: Data from Ambulatory Care in a Real-Life Setting.Reports (MDPI) · 2023Article
- What Do We Know about Nociplastic Pain?Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) is marketed as a "dietary food for special medical purposes". Its broad-spectrum analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective effects make PEA an interesting substance in pain management. However, the underlying analgetic mechanisms have not yet been investigated in humans. The aim of our study is to provide a deeper understanding of the involved mechanisms, which is essential for differentiating therapeutic approaches and the establishment of mechanism-based therapeutic approaches. In this randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blinded crossover trial, 14 healthy volunteers were included. PEA (3 × 400 mg per day) or placebo were taken for 4 weeks. Our study investigated the mode of action of PEA using an established pain model, "Repetitive phasic heat application", which is well-suited to investigate analgesic and anti-hyperalgesic effects in healthy volunteers. Parameters for peripheral and central sensitization as well as for pain modulation were assessed. Repetitive heat pain was significantly decreased, and the cold pain tolerance was significantly prolonged after the PEA treatment. The pressure pain tolerance and the conditioned pain modulation were increased after the PEA treatment. The wind-up ratio and the average distance of allodynia were significantly decreased after the PEA treatment. The heat pain tolerance was significantly higher after the PEA treatment. The present study has demonstrated that PEA has clinically relevant analgesic properties, acting on both peripheral and central mechanisms as well as in pain modulation.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.