S.According to the World Health Organization, the headache is one of the most frequent disorders of the nervous system, with serious consequences on the quality of life of patients, especially for those suffering from repeated and painful attacks. It has long been known that lifestyle plays an important role in determining the onset of headaches, but few studies analyze how we can act on these factors to prevent attacks. Help could come from nutrition: consume fish, seeds and nuts (rich in omega-3s) it is in fact capable of reduce the frequency and intensity of attacks and may help prevent the onset of headaches.
To suggest this, opening the door to new therapeutic approaches for the management of migraines, is a study published in the British Journal Medicine.
Headache and nutrition: the study
The research involved 182 people, 88% of whom were women with an average age of 38, who suffered from chronic migraines for 5 to 20 days a month. Participants were divided into three groups who followed three different diets over a period of 16 weeks.
Control diet: omega-3 intake below 150 mg / day and omega-6 equal to 7% of the daily energy requirement
H3 diet: increased omega-3 intake to 1.5 g / day and unaltered omega-6 intake
H3 / L6 diet: omega-3 intake equal to 1.5 g / day and reduction of omega-6 intake to 1.8% of the total energy requirement
The diets were developed based on previous research suggesting apain relieving action for omega-3s, unlike omega-6s which could make pain worse and cause migraines. During the experimentation, participants were provided with the formulations of oil, butter and protein foods, including fish, necessary to achieve the level of fatty acid intake required by the assigned diet. In addition, all participants completed a test to assess the impact of headache on their quality of life (HIT-6) and completed a daily electronic diary to assess the frequency of attacks.
Less frequent, shorter and less painful attacks
The results of the study showed one statistically significant reduction in migraine frequency in both groups who followed the diet with a higher omega-3 intake.
The diet rich in omega-3 was in fact associated with one reduction of 1.3 hours of migraine / day and two days of migraine / month. While the diet that involved omega-3 increase associated with low omega-6 content led to a reduction of 1.7 migraine hours / day and four migraine days / month, suggesting a additional benefit associated with lower omega-6 intake. Both groups who followed the omega-3-rich diets also reported shorter and less painful headaches than the control group.
The pain-relieving action of Omega 3
But how does the pain relieving action of fatty acids work? The omega-3 and omega-6 are precursors of oxylipins, molecules involved in the pain and inflammation regulation. In particular, omega-3 derived oxylipins are associated with anti-pain and anti-inflammatory effects, while those derived from Omega-6s can cause migraines. Over the 16 weeks of the study, the researchers measured the levels of one of these molecules, 17-hydroxydocosahexaenoic acid (17-HDHA). They have shown that both diets rich in omega-3s increase the levels of this substance, which works by reducing pain and inflammation.
A new approach to treating migraines
The results of this study represent a major step forward in migraine treatment, as they show that it is It is possible to influence the pain pathways with proper nutrition and thus open the way to development of targeted diets for the treatment of migraine. One of the authors of the research, Rebecca Burch of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, while acknowledging that the interpretation of study data can be complex, he argues that these results support the “recommendation of a diet rich in omega 3 for patients with migraine“, Underlining how” many people with migraines are highly motivated and interested in diet changes “and also adding that” these results take us one step closer to a goal long sought after by headache patients: a migraine diet supported by robust clinical trial results“.
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