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Headache disorders are among the leading causes of chronic pain-related disability worldwide,¹ and migraine and severe headache affect roughly one out of every six US adults.² Migraine and tension-type headaches are common headache disorders, and migraine, specifically, is associated with other physical and psychiatric health conditions like anxiety and depression.^3,4

Functional medicine practitioner Dr. Lisa Portera sees patients with a wide variety of structural and neuromuscular chronic illnesses, including chronic pain.

Nutritional Approaches to Address Migraine

As part of a functional medicine approach to reduce migraine occurrence, lifestyle-based therapies may include personalized nutritional interventions that aim to reduce foods that may trigger symptoms as well as inflammation throughout the body while implementing nutrient-dense dietary plans.

Some individuals with migraine report that their symptoms can be triggered by certain foods, and IgG food sensitivities and intolerances may be involved.⁵ Evidence suggests that an IgG-based elimination diet may be a beneficial tool for healthcare practitioners to use in migraine treatments. For example, a controlled clinical trial of an elimination diet based on IgG antibodies for the prevention of migraine headaches showed a significant reduction in the number of migraines or migraine-like headaches after four weeks of the treatment.⁶

Other dietary approaches have been shown to be effective for the management of migraine. Adherence to the dietary approaches to stop hypertension (DASH) diet has been associated with lower headache severity and duration for those with migraine.⁷ In an additional study, those who had a higher adherence to a Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diet, with an increased consumption of vegetables, legumes, and nuts and decreased intake of refined grains, were up to 36% less likely to have severe headaches.⁸

Nutrients & Migraine Headache Symptoms

Specific vitamins and nutrients may also be related to migraine. Vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency has been reported in some patients with migraine, and studies suggest that appropriate vitamin D supplementation may reduce the frequency of migraine attacks.⁹ In addition, several studies that included both pediatric and adult patients found that compared to placebo, those who received CoQ10 as a supplement had reduced migraine days per month and reduced migraine duration.¹⁰ Omega-3 fatty acids from food sources or supplementation may also be beneficial for migraine. A meta-analysis of clinical trials found that omega-3 intake may lead to a significant reduction in the duration of migraine.¹¹

Conclusion

Additional research on nutrition’s role in migraine prevention and treatment continues to develop. For instance, recent migraine research has explored the benefit of non-pharmaceutical treatments such as probiotics¹² and the impact of other nutritional factors such as adequate water consumption.¹³ Practitioners trained in functional medicine understand the beneficial impact that lifestyle-based therapies such as nutritional interventions may have for someone with migraine. To find a functional medicine practitioner near you and learn more about how the functional medicine approach may improve symptoms of migraine or other headache disorders, click below.

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References

1. GBD 2019 Diseases and Injuries Collaborators. Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990-2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 [published correction appears in Lancet. 2020;396(10262):1562]. Lancet. 2020;396(10258):1204-1222. doi:1016/S0140-6736(20)30925-9
2. Burch R, Rizzoli P, Loder E. The prevalence and impact of migraine and severe headache in the United States: updated age, sex, and socioeconomic-specific estimates from government health surveys. Headache. 2021;61(1):60-68. doi:1111/head.14024
3. Falla K, Kuziek J, Mahnaz SR, Noel M, Ronksley PE, Orr SL. Anxiety and depressive symptoms and disorders in children and adolescents with migraine: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Pediatr. 2022;176(12):1176-1187. doi:1001/jamapediatrics.2022.3940
4. Alwhaibi M, Alhawassi TM. Humanistic and economic burden of depression and anxiety among adults with migraine: a systematic review. Depress Anxiety. 2020;37(11):1146-1159. doi:1002/da.23063
5. Geiselman JF. The clinical use of IgG food sensitivity testing with migraine headache patients: a literature review. Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2019;23(11):79. doi:1007/s11916-019-0819-4
6. Mitchell N, Hewitt CE, Jayakody S, et al. Randomized controlled trial of food elimination diet based on IgG antibodies for the prevention of migraine like headaches. Nutr J. 2011;10:85. doi:1186/1475-2891-10-85
7. Mirzababaei A, Khorsha F, Togha M, Yekaninejad MS, Okhovat AA, Mirzaei K. Associations between adherence to dietary approaches to stop hypertension (DASH) diet and migraine headache severity and duration among women. Nutr Neurosci. 2020;23(5):335-342. doi:1080/1028415X.2018.1503848
8. Askarpour M, Yarizadeh H, Sheikhi A, Khorsha F, Mirzaei K. Associations between adherence to MIND diet and severity, duration and frequency of migraine headaches among migraine patients. BMC Res Notes. 2020;13(1):341. doi:1186/s13104-020-05181-4
9. Ghorbani Z, Togha M, Rafiee P, et al. Vitamin D in migraine headache: a comprehensive review on literature. Neurol Sci. 2019;40(12):2459-2477. doi:1007/s10072-019-04021-z
10.  Zeng Z, Li Y, Lu S, Huang W, Di W. Efficacy of CoQ10 as supplementation for migraine: a meta-analysis. Acta Neurol Scand. 2019;139(3):284-293. doi:1111/ane.13051
11.  Maghsoumi-Noroyuzabad L, Mansoori A, Abed R, Shishehbor F. Effects of omega-3 fatty acids on the frequency, severity, and duration of migraine attacks: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Nutr Neurosci. 2018;21(9):614-623. doi:1080/1028415X.2017.1344371
12.  Martami F, Togha M, Seifishahpar M, et al. The effects of a multispecies probiotic supplement on inflammatory markers and episodic and chronic migraine characteristics: a randomized double-blind controlled trial. Cephalalgia. 2019;39(7):841-853. doi:1177/0333102418820102
13.  Khorsha F, Mirzababaei A, Togha M, Mirzaei K. Association of drinking water and migraine headache severity. J Clin Neurosci. 2020;77:81-84. doi:1016/j.jocn.2020.05.034