Diet and Migraine-TCM Treatment Guides Traditional Chinese Medicine[TCM Discovery Net]

Diet and Migraine

When exploring the causes of headaches, the easiest, cheapest place to start is diet. Food reactions are a significant contributor to headaches and some improvement in symptoms, if not complete remission, can always be achieved by eliminating problematic dietary items. The elimination/challenge trial identify food reactions that may be causing your headaches.

Foods that most commonly induce migraines:

cow's milk
wheat
chocolate
egg
orange
benzoic acid
cheese
tomato
tartrazine (yellow food dye)
rye

Foods like cheese, beer, and wine induce migraines in some people because they contain histamines and/or vasoactive compounds that cause blood vessels to expand. Women tend to react to histamine-containing foods more frequently than men do, on account of a deficiency in an enzyme (diamine oxidase) that breaks histamine down. Taking supplemental B6 may be helpful in these situations, as it can increase diamine oxidase activity.

Nitrites, which are common ingredients in lunch meats and smoked/cured meats, dilate blood vessels, and may trigger migraine.

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