Migraine Headaches and the Food Connection

As a person who has suffered from the excruciating pain of migraines on more than one occasion, I can tell you that the old saying about an ounce of prevention is the absolute truth.

I read somewhere that certain foods were being linked to migraines, so I started paying more attention to what I ate and when I had a migraine attack. After a while, I began to notice a pattern of migraines developing within a couple of days of eating certain things.

Once I cut these "trigger" foods out of my diet, I noticed a marked drop off in the number and frequency of migraine headaches.

Different foods have been linked to migraines in different people. A few of the most common migraine triggers that people eat are:

-Peanuts
-Nuts (pistachios in particular)
-Citrus Fruits
-Wine and Cheese
-Pork
-Shellfish

You may notice that many of these foods are also on a list of foods people commonly develop an allergy to. Some doctors theorize that migraines triggered by foods are in fact allergic reactions to these foods.

It has been proven that people with food allergies react in different ways ranging from development of a rash all the way anaphylactic shock, a condition that can cause death in a matter of minutes without medical intervention.

If you suspect that certain foods may be contributing to your migraines, the best thing to do is start eliminating the suspect foods from the diet until a change in the frequency or severity of migraines is noticed.

This change marks a likely trigger food eliminated, so the person knows to avoid that particular food item in the future.

The problem is that many food triggered migraines do not come immediately after consuming the food that triggers it. Often there is a separation of several days between eating the food and the onset of the migraine.

This can make determining which foods are triggering migraines very difficult unless one keeps a daily diary of what is eaten and watches for the development of patterns between foods and migraines.

Another serious complication to the issue of foods triggering migraines is the increase in the number of foods that have chemical additives and artificial sweeteners. In the old days, sodas, gum, and sweet snacks were loaded with sugar. Today, they often contain large amounts of high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners.

Another major chemical that is used as a preservative in many different foods is known as monosodium glutamate (MSG). MSG has been conclusively linked to migraine headaches in more than one study. Other chemical preservatives are being studied to determine if they are significant contributors to the incidence of migraine.

Choosing the exact food triggers that cause migraine is not always easy because of the number of different ingredients that are being added to most foods these days. It is important to pay attention to the ingredients in most processed foods as well in order to learn what may be causing your migraines.

Autor: Phillip Dye

Check out MigraineHeadacheRx.com for Migraines and Optical Migraines

Added: June 6, 2009
Source: http://articlerich.com/Article/Migraine-Headaches-and-~