The Influence of a Low-Fat Diet on Incidence and Severity of Migraine Headaches

Abstract

Migraine headaches are a common, debilitating syndrome causing untold suffering and loss of productivity. A review of the literature indicates that high levels of blood lipids and high levels of free fatty acids are among the important factors involved in triggering migraine headaches. Under these conditions, platelet aggregability, which is associated with decreased serotonin and heightened prostaglandin levels, is increased. This leads to vasodilation, the immediate precursor of migraine headache. A high-fat diet is one factor that may directly affect this process. This study, undertaken to evaluate the impact of dietary fat intake on incidence and severity of migraine headache, was conducted over a 12-week period on 54 previously diagnosed migraine headache patients. During the first 28 days, the study subjects recorded all food consumption in a diet diary and maintained a headache diary. At the conclusion of this 28-day baseline period, subjects were individually counseled to limit fat intake to no more than 20 g/day. A 28-day run-in period was allowed for adaptation to the low-fat diet. Results are reported on the final 28-day postintervention period. Subjects significantly decreased the ingestion of dietary fat in grams between baseline (mean 65.9 g/day, p < 0.0001) and the postintervention period (mean 27.8 g/day). The decreased dietary fat intervention was associated with statistically significant decreases in headache frequency, intensity, duration, and medication intake (all p < 0.0001). There was a significant positive correlation between baseline dietary fat intake and headache frequency (r = .44, p = 0.02). This study indicates that a low-fat diet can reduce headache frequency, intensity, and duration and medication intake.

Vascular Risk Factors, Endothelial Function, and Carotid Thickness in Patients with Migraine: Relationship to Atherosclerosis

“…Studies indicated that a low-fat diet was associated with significant decreases in headache frequency, intensity, duration, and medication intake. 5 The presence of elevated CRP with MA, MoA, and transformed migraine in this study further supports the role of inflammation in migraine. 11,19,20 As none of the Abbreviations: MA, migraine with aura; MoA, migraine without aura, BMI, body mass index; SBP, systolic blood pressure; DBP, diastolic blood pressure; CRP, C-reactive protein; TC, total cholestrol; TG, triglycerides; CCA-IMT, common carotid artery intimamedia thickness; FMD%, brachial artery flow-mediated dilatation.…”

“…Migraine is a disease with a presumed vascular mechanism. 3 Recently, several epidemiologic, longitudinal, case-control, and cohort studies demonstrated association between migraine and vascular risk comorbid medical conditions including: increased body mass index (BMI) or obesity, 4 hypercholesterolemia/dyslipidemia, 5 hypertension, 6 impaired insulin sensitivity, 7 ischemic stroke in young adults, 8 and coronary heart disease. 9 These associations or comorbidities are not explained by bias.…”

Food as trigger and aggravating factor of migraine

“…Finally, it has been reported that diet with low-fat intake could reduce the headache frequency and intensity [33].…”

Low-lipid diet reduces frequency and severity of acute migraine attacks

“…First, in a small trial including only seven patients with no control group, a carbohydrate-rich diet, low in protein-tryptophan, was shown to favourably affect headache, and the efficacy of the dietary intervention was related to a reduced intake of migraine-precipitating foods with a concomitant increase in the brain serotonin levels [11]. Thereafter, the lipid components of the diet were investigated: it has been suggested that a lipid-rich diet might be responsible for headache because the plasma serotonin levels are reduced in relation to the increased platelet aggregation [12], whilst a very low-lipid diet (about 20 g daily) might help in preventing headache [13]. More recently, the use of a ketogenic diet has been proven to reduce the frequency of migraine attacks [14,15].…”