the body fight infections, against 266 different food antigens, substances that cause the immune system to produce antibodies against them.
All study participants were subjected to a six-week diet that either excluded or included specific foods with raised IgG antibodies. After a two-week break, they switched diets so everyone in the study was exposed to both.
Researchers found that by eliminating foods to which participants produced IgG antibodies, the number of reported headaches decreased.“ A food allergy could be at play in triggering migraines for some people,” Dr. Vargas says of the findings.
In spite of this promising study, the practice of removing foods from a patient’ s diet to treat migraines is still largely based on anecdotal evidence.“ If I had a patient come in and say,‘ I’ m going to remove chocolate from my diet because it’ s a trigger,’ I say,‘ Go ahead.’ But if they have a hard time giving it up, I’ d have a hard time producing the evidence that eliminating it would make a huge difference,” Dr. Vargas says.
FOOD DOESN’ T ACT ALONE It’ s difficult to produce hard evidence of the connection between food and migraines because there is often more going on than people realize when a headache strikes. Experts say food is rarely the sole cause of a migraine.
“ Triggers with food don’ t happen in isolation, and multiple triggers can play together at times to cause the headache,” Dr. Freitag says.
In fact, most people with sensitivity to certain foods won’ t get a migraine every time they eat those foods.“ You may be sensitive to the weather and not get a headache. But if a storm comes and you don’ t get enough sleep and you eat food with MSG, you’ ll get one,” explains Audrey Halpern, MD, clinical associate professor of neurology at New York University’ s School of Medicine and director of the Manhattan Center for Headache and Neurology in New York City.
When required to keep track of the diet / migraine connection, people occasionally are surprised to find that food is not as big a trigger as they thought— even notorious culprits such as chocolate, caffeine and gluten, Dr. Vargas says.
Chocolate Drawing an association between chocolate consumption and migraine is among the most common errors people make.
“ Chocolate is tricky because there is good evidence to suggest that, with chocolate, patients may get a premonition to a migraine a day or two before in the form of a food craving,” Dr. Freitag says.
These cravings generally occur during what is called the prodrome phase, a period lasting from several hours to 24 hours before the onset of a migraine. Women, in particular, report experiencing cravings when premenstrual. The symptoms— sensitivity to light, cravings and irritability, among others— can be subtle and similar to premenstrual symptoms, so they often go unrecognized by migraine sufferers.
MOST WANTED
Watch out for these common food triggers.
ALCOHOL: Alcoholic beverages can dilate blood vessels in the brain and cause headaches.
DAIRY PRODUCTS: Cultured or fermented dairy products, especially aged cheeses, can be a powerful trigger.
MSG: MSG is often found in packaged foods, canned soups, frozen dinners and snack foods.
FRUIT: Citrus fruits( lemons, limes, oranges and grapefruits) are the worst offenders.
Source: The Migraine Cookbook
Caffeine Caffeine is another food trigger people often ignore. Small amounts of caffeine, Dr. Freitag says, actually may be helpful for migraine sufferers, but when you get beyond 250 mg a day( about 2.5
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