Patients who suffer from migraine attacks often try to determine what they did wrong when a headache occurs. They try to identify the triggers that will put them at risk for another episode. What is frustrating for many migraine sufferers is the inconsistency in which food triggers precipitate an attack. Perhaps a better way to understand the problem of triggers, is that when patients are prone to migraine attacks, a particular food trigger may tip the balance in favour of a migraine.

There are multiple foods that may trigger a migraine attack. Processed meats containing high levels of nitrites are considered highly predictable migraine triggers. Some foods can cause the blood vessels to dilate (expand), and so create the early changes seen in migraine attacks. Some foods contain a significant amount of tyramine - an amino acid that can provoke the early blood vessel changes typical of migraine.Foods that are high in tyramine include aged cheeses, nuts, beans, yoghurt, bananas, and citrus fruits.

Food additives have been linked to migraine attacks. Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is probably the best known of this group, and has been shown to cause rapid cramps, diarrhea, and severe migraine. Aspartame (an artificial sweetener commonly used in diet soft drinks) has also been implicated. Some spices, as well as garlic and onion have been identified as possible triggers of migraine attacks.

Diet may be important in some patients, but not in others, and the list of potential food triggers can be exhaustive (see below). It is interesting that one study compared headaches experienced by a group of migraine sufferers while they tried three different diets. These diets were their normal diet, a diet high in foods believed to trigger headache, and a diet low in foods believed to trigger headache. Headache improved on both the diet low in trigger foods and the diet high in trigger foods compared to the patient's regular diet.

If you believe foods may trigger your headache, expect to get a headache within 12 hours of eating the particular food item.

Elimination of certain individual foods may be helpful for a minority of headache sufferers, but restricting a wide variety of foods on a long term basis can be stressful and is rarely helpful.

Dietary input into a patient's headaches is much easier for the patient to determine than the doctor. Dietary input is generally a trigger of the headache pain but not the underlying causes of it. Successful treatment at The Headache Clinic will break the link between the triggering food and the headache pain. Our 80 - 90% success rate is testimony to the many Headache Clinic patients who can often enjoy all the foods, drinks and activities that were previously denied them.

Successful treatment at The Headache Clinic is about restoring Quality of Life.