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Review
. 2023 Jul 17;15(14):3170.
doi: 10.3390/nu15143170.

Caffeine for Headaches: Helpful or Harmful? A Brief Review of the Literature

Anna Zduńska  1 , Joanna Cegielska  1 , Sebastian Zduński  2 , Izabela Domitrz  1
Affiliations
Review

Caffeine for Headaches: Helpful or Harmful? A Brief Review of the Literature

Anna Zduńska et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Consumption of caffeine in the diet, both daily and occasional, has a significant biological effect on the nervous system. Caffeine, through various and not yet fully investigated mechanisms, affects headaches. This is especially noticeable in migraine. In other headaches such as hypnic headache, post-dural puncture headache and spontaneous intracranial hypotension, caffeine is an important therapeutic agent. In turn, abrupt discontinuation of chronically used caffeine can cause caffeine-withdrawal headache. Caffeine can both relieve and trigger headaches.

Keywords: caffeine; caffeine-withdrawal headache; hypnic headache; medication overuse headache; migraine; post-dural puncture headache; spontaneous intracranial hypotension; tension-type headache.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare no conflict of interest.

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