Migraine and Current Diet Approaches

Migraine is one of the oldest diseases known in history and is a chronic disease characterized by episodic, severe, throbbing headaches mostly accompanied by sensory, autonomic and motor disorders. In the burden of disease and disability studies conducted by WHO, it was ranked 19th in the world in 2000 and rose to the 2nd place in 2020. Factors such as hunger, alcohol and tobacco use, loud noise, insomnia, bright light, sharp smells trigger migraine. In addition to these, nutrition also has a significant effect on migraine. Exposure of some nutrients and deprivation of others can cause migraine attacks. There are studies in the literature in which different dietary approaches are applied for the treatment of migraine. Nutritional models such as elimination diets, vegetarian/vegan diet, ketogenic diet, low-fat diet, Mediterranean diet are among the approaches used in treatment. The most commonly used of these diets are elimination diets. Elimination diets require the identification of provocative dietary components and then their removal from the diet. Elimination diets used for migraine are generally based on the elimination of gluten, lactose and casein from the diet. However, there is no clear nutritional protocol that will positively affect the prognosis in the treatment of migraine. For this reason, an individualized approach should be adopted in order to determine the trigger nutritional elements, in which the individual experiences severe headache when exposed to a nutritional trigger, in which these foods are removed from the diet. In conclusion, more studies needed on dietary approaches to benefit migraine.