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A Clinical Approach to Addressing Diet with Migraine Patients

  • Headache (RB Halker, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

Migraine is a common disorder causing attacks of neurological dysfunction and pain. Treatment ranges from pharmacological to lifestyle changes to improve both frequency and severity of attacks. Focus on lifestyle changes, especially diet, is often discussed during clinical visits in the care of migraine patients.

Recent Findings

Diet may play a role in triggering migraine, but available evidence on migraine and diet is limited. When advising patients on dietary changes to improve migraine, it is important to acknowledge the limits in evidence and the larger role that diet may play in lifestyle changes.

Summary

This review will focus on current evidence on the effect of diet and migraine and use a case to illustrate how to approach diet changes in a patient with migraine.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nutrition and Food Studies, George Mason University, 4400 University Drive, MSN 1F8, Fairfax, VA, 22030, USA

    Margaret Slavin

  2. Georgetown Headache Center, Medstar Georgetown University Hospital, 3800 Reservoir Rd NW, 7PHC, Washington, DC, 20007, USA

    Jessica Ailani

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  1. Margaret Slavin
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Conflict of Interest

Margaret Slavin reports grants from McCormick Science Institute and a research contract (co-investigator) from PepsiCo.

Jessica Ailani has received honoraria payments from Teva, Avanir, and Allergan.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Headache

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Slavin, M., Ailani, J. A Clinical Approach to Addressing Diet with Migraine Patients. Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep 17, 17 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11910-017-0721-6

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