Association between Dietary Niacin Intake and Migraine among American Adults: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Abstract

Migraine is related to brain energy deficiency. Niacin is a required coenzyme in mitochondrial energy metabolism. However, the relationship between dietary niacin and migraines remains uncertain. We aimed to evaluate the relationship between dietary niacin and migraine. This study used cross-sectional data from people over 20 years old who took part in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 1999 and 2004, collecting details on their severe headaches or migraines, dietary niacin intake, and several other essential variables. There were 10,246 participants, with 20.1% (2064/10,246) who experienced migraines. Compared with individuals with lower niacin consumption Q1 (≤12.3 mg/day), the adjusted OR values for dietary niacin intake and migraine in Q2 (12.4−18.3 mg/day), Q3 (18.4−26.2 mg/day), and Q4 (≥26.3 mg/day) were 0.83 (95% CI: 0.72−0.97, p = 0.019), 0.74 (95% CI: 0.63−0.87, p < 0.001), and 0.72 (95% CI: 0.58−0.88, p = 0.001), respectively. The association between dietary niacin intake and migraine exhibited an L-shaped curve (nonlinear, p = 0.011). The OR of developing migraine was 0.975 (95% CI: 0.956−0.994, p = 0.011) in participants with niacin intake < 21.0 mg/day. The link between dietary niacin intake and migraine in US adults is L-shaped, with an inflection point of roughly 21.0 mg/day.

Keywords: L-shaped; cross-sectional study; migraine; niacin.

Figure 1

The study’s flow diagram.

Figure 2

Association between dietary niacin intake and migraine odds ratio. Solid and dashed lines represent the predicted value and 95% confidence intervals. They were adjusted for age, sex, marital status, race/ethnicity, education level, family income, smoking status, physical activity, hypertension, diabetes, stroke, coronary heart disease, body mass index, energy consumption, protein consumption, carbohydrate consumption, fat consumption, dietary supplements taken, and C-reactive protein. Only 99% of the data is shown.

Figure 3

The relationship between dietary niacin intake and migraine according to basic features. Except for the stratification component itself, each stratification factor was adjusted for all other variables (age, sex, marital status, race/ethnicity, education level, family income, smoking status, physical activity, hypertension, diabetes, stroke, coronary heart disease, body mass index, energy consumption, protein consumption, carbohydrate consumption, fat consumption, dietary supplements taken, and C-reactive protein).