FAQ Episode 20: How do food sensitivities promote migraine headaches?
FAQs for Natural Migraine Relief for Women
Hi, this is Jeff Baker, your host welcoming you back to Frequently Asked Questions about Natural Migraine Relief. Today’s episode addresses a common experience of many readers here, where a specific food appears to be a provocative or trigger factor for a migraine event.
It is well known that chemical ingredients in foods can act as trigger factors for migraines. Some common examples include cured meats, foods like instant ramen or potato chips (with MSG), aged cheeses, chocolate, picked or fermented food, aspartame, and alcoholic beverages. If any of these foods are triggers for you, you likely already know what they are, and aim to avoid them. There are also foods that carry a hidden inflammatory burden for those with migraines, and that is what we will discuss in this episode.
First, just a brief lesson on how the immune system reacts to molecules it considers ‘non-self.’ We’ve all heard about someone ingesting a peanut and having a serious reaction with airway constriction, etc. This is due to what we call an IgE immune reaction. It is usually of rapid onset and has classic allergy manefestations like hives, lip or tongue swelling, or airway tightness.
There is another type of immune reaction involving the IgG class of antibodies, where reaction symptoms to foods can be delayed by hours or even days, and may have little or no associated classic allergy symptoms. I’ve seen patients with a broad range of disorders where the ongoing intake of IgG reactive foods were a contributing factor to problems like irritable bowel, many skin disorders from eczema to psoriasis, arthritis, anxiety disorders, asthma, migraine and many others.
The additional and cumulative inflammation caused by IgG driven immune reactivity can add to inflammation from other sources, eventually rising to the point of provoking the clinical expression of a problem, like a migraine aura or headache.
Because there can be delayed time frame from eating the food to expressing the symptoms, it can be difficult if not impossible to readily make a causal connection. Something you ate on Monday could be promoting the migraine that you get Wednesday. Or something you eat regularly could be building underlying inflammation which then becomes the springboard for other and more obvious ‘triggers’ to activate your migraine.
There are several studies which show that IgG reactivity to various foods is linked with migraines. In one study, researchers found that individuals who regularly experienced migraines were more likely to test positive for IgG reactivity to common foods 1. Impressively, more than 75% of people in the migraine group no longer experienced regular migraines after doing a food elimination diet guided by the IgG test results.
In another study, researchers discovered that an IgG-based elimination diet – carried out over 6 weeks – effectively reduced the number of headache days and migraine attacks in a group of migraine patients 2.
This all makes sense. Underlying inflammation is one of the major underlying root cause factors in migraine, and IgG reactive foods can feed directly into this loop. The challenge is knowing: 1) which food and 2) how much immune reactivity it involves. Most of us would limit a food if we knew that it really was promoting our migraine. But how do we know for sure what’s pushing our buttons?
Couples’ counselors will tell you that the best way to know what aggravates your partner is to ask them. In this case, that is also true for your immune system. Fortunately, we can do “an interview with the immune system” to assess 80-100 of the most common foods and find out which (if any) foods your gut immune tissue is engaging in an active feud. And as the studies above show, avoiding reactive foods can have profound effects for many patients. If you avoid the offending foods, with time the IgG antibodies will drop off as they “forgive and forget” and with time you may be able to add the offending food back into your diet.
Finding these tests may require some research on your part, as food sensitivity IgG level testing is not done routinely at most labs. Make sure that a local lab doesn’t say ”oh yeah, we can do that” and then come back with only 4-5 of the common IgE reactive foods.
If you want to pursue IgG testing for yourself, here are two labs I use and trust:
Genova: where they do IgG levels for 80 of the most common foods for ~$160 https://connect.gdx.net/products/food-sensitivity#faq
Life Extension Labs: with IgG levels for 96 common foods for $169
https://www.lifeextension.com/lab-testing/itemlc100094/food-sensitivity-panel-basic-igg-finger-stick
You can also get this test ordered through a local integrative minded physician, natropath, chiropractor or nutritionist, where insurance might cover it. Generally paid for on your own it is out of pocket, although an HSA account may cover the expense.
Underlying food sensitivities can invisibly drive inflammation and its overflow into dozens of health disorders, including migraine. If you have gut mediated and immune driven inflammation, you really need to know what is driving it, and how to reduce it. If this story resonates with you, consider getting tested.
Learn more about your migraine root cause factors and specific non-drug interventions.
Managing the role of food sensitivites as a factor in migraines is only one of over 90 potential non-drug interventions we discuss in the online course Natural Migraine Relief for Women.
If you are not already a course subscriber, you can learn more about your migraine root cause factors by looking to www.naturalmigrainerelief.online for more information on how you can find and personally triage the best non-drug therapies to relieve your migraine headaches.
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References:
Food allergy mediated by IgG antibodies associated with migraine in adults https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18693538/
Diet restriction in migraine, based on IgG against foods: A clinical double-blind, randomised, cross-over trial https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2899772/
"If any of these foods are triggers for you, you likely already know what they are, and aim to avoid them."
I find that many if not most of my migraine patients DONT spend time thinking about this and dont get good medical advice