Migraine

Food Intolerance is often seen as a cause of migraine, some of the most common food triggers are Alcohol, chocolate, cheese, and more unusually, citrus fruits. The chemicals called vaso active amines such as tyramine or phenylethyamine in marmite, cheese and wines and betaphenylethylamine in chocolate may be to be blame for the onset of a migraine and cause the severe throbbing associated with a migraine type headache.

A Study of 494 migraine sufferers has identified the commonest food triggers:-

ALCOHOL (29%) Different drinks affect different people. Some can drink white wine, but not red, some can only drink champagne!

CHOCOLATE (19.2%) Migraine can be provoked by quite small amounts of chocolate - a bar for a snack, or even the chocolate in a sauce or pudding.

CHEESE (18.2%) Mature cheese (Stilton, Brie, Emmental and Camembert) seem more likely to produce attacks. Cottage cheese is often safe.

CITRUS FRUITS (11.1%) Citrus fruits appear to cause migraines more commonly than other fruits, although unripe green apples can sometimes cause attacks.

Again keeping food symptoms diary of when the attacks occur may help identify whether your migraine is food related however it is worth remembering that food does not play a role in every migraine patient.