Frequent Headaches / Migraines? Your Food Might Be Responsible

There are certain food items or food ingredients that can trigger headaches or migraines. Furthermore, eating habits like skipping meals, dehydration, and fasting, can trigger a headache as well. Therefore, if a person suffers from frequent headaches or migraines, it might be a good idea to take a closer look at what and when this person eats.

Keeping a food journal is a good way to keep track of the food intake and to find out which food item or ingredient might trigger a headache or a migraine. Similarly, it might show, if a headache occurs after a meal has been skipped, or not enough liquids were consumed.

Keeping a food journal is easy although it might be time consuming. Every single food and drink item has to be written down in the journal with the date and time it has been consumed. Similarly, headaches should be marked down with date and time of occurrence. After a while a pattern might be discerned by which it can be determined that a certain food or dietary habit brings on a headache or migraine. This will allow a person to avoid these headache or migraine triggering food(s) or dietary habit(s).

The food that acts as a headache or migraine trigger varies from person to person. It can be a very common food item; it might be a more exotic one. And sometimes it is just a simple ingredient that brings on a headache. It might require some detective work to determine for each individual person which food item(s) and/or dietary habit(s) causes this individual's headaches or migraines.

There are some food items that are known to trigger headaches or migraines in some people prone to headaches. Aged cheese for example, can be the culprit for some people. It includes tyramine, which some people are sensitive to. Especially, if a person is on monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) medicines, food items containing tyramine should be avoided. Unfortunately, tyramine is a natural food ingredient in many food items we consume. It is the result of the protein breakdown during the food aging process. The older the food is, the more likely it contains higher levels of tyramine. Besides aged cheese, there is alcoholic beverages, especially red wine, and some processed meats that can contain tyramine. There are certain cheeses that contain high levels of tyramine like Feta, Parmesan, Swiss cheese, Blue cheese, Brie, Gorgonzola, Cheddar, English Stilton, Mozzarella, Muenster, and other processed cheese types.

Alcohol is also a known trigger for headaches or migraines. There are certain impurities in the alcohol that can cause a headache. There are also some by-products that occur when the body processes the alcohol. Furthermore, the blood flow to the brain increases, which can bring on a headache or migraine. If a person is prone to headaches or migraines, alcohol should be avoided.

Food additives/preservatives are often the culprit for causing headaches or migraines. Nitrates or nitrites for example, dilate blood vessels, which in turn can result in a headache. Food containing these are for example cured or processed meats like hot dogs, ham, sausage, bacon, pepperoni, and deli cut meat slices. However, even some heart medicines contain nitrates or nitrites.

A food additive that is more commonly known as a headache or migraine trigger is called monosodium glutamate (MSG). It is especially used in oriental foods and soy sauce, but also as a meat tenderizer and can be included in packaged food.

Even just eating cold food items can trigger a headache or migraine. This is especially true, if the cold food item is consumed too quickly.