Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Aug 17:10:1206278.
doi: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1206278. eCollection 2023.

Associations between dietary diversity score and migraine headaches: the results from a cross-sectional study

Shahnaz Amani Tirani  1 , Gholamreza Askari  1 , Fariborz Khorvash  2 , Atefeh As'habi  3 , Arman Arab  1
Affiliations

Associations between dietary diversity score and migraine headaches: the results from a cross-sectional study

Shahnaz Amani Tirani et al. Front Nutr. .

Abstract

Aims: There is limited evidence on the link between diet quality and migraine headaches. The present study aimed to evaluate the association between dietary diversity score (DDS), as a good representative of overall diet quality, and clinical features of migraine headaches.

Methods: In total, 262 subjects (224 females and 34 males), aged 20 to 50 years old were included in the present cross-sectional study. The migraine headache was diagnosed according to the third edition of the International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD-3). Clinical features of migraine headaches including frequency, severity, and duration of migraine headaches, headache impact test-6 (HIT-6), and serum levels of nitric oxide (NO) were assessed by standard procedures. The dietary intake of participants has been assessed by a validated 168-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and used to calculate DDS. The association between DDS and clinical variables of migraine headaches was investigated using multiple linear regression analysis, and the beta (β) estimates with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were reported.

Results: A significant inverse association was found between DDS and headache frequency (β = -2.19, 95% CI: -4.25, -0.14) and serum levels of NO (β = -6.60, 95% CI: -12.58, -0.34), when comparing patients in the third tertile of DDS to those in the first tertile. The association remained significant and became stronger after adjustment for confounders for both outcomes of headache frequency (β = -3.36, 95% CI: -5.88, -0.84) and serum levels of NO (β = -9.86, 95% CI: -18.17, -1.55). However, no significant association was found between DDS with HIT-6 score, migraine headache duration, and severity.

Conclusion: The present study demonstrates that higher dietary diversity is correlated with lower migraine frequency and serum levels of NO.

Keywords: Iran; dietary diversity score; headache; migraine; nutrition.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram of the selection process of study participants.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Burch R, Rizzoli P, Loder E. The prevalence and impact of migraine and severe headache in the United States: figures and trends from government health studies. Headache: the journal of head and face. Pain. (2018) 58:496–505. doi: 10.1111/head.13281 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Vos T, Lim SS, Abbafati C, Abbas KM, Abbasi M, Abbasifard M, et al. . Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study 2019. Lancet. (2020) 396:1204–22. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30925-9, PMID: - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lampl C, Thomas H, Tassorelli C, Katsarava Z, Laínez JM, Lantéri-Minet M, et al. . Headache, depression and anxiety: associations in the Eurolight project. J Headache Pain. (2016) 17:1–9. doi: 10.1186/s10194-016-0649-2 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Buse DC, Reed ML, Fanning KM, Bostic R, Dodick DW, Schwedt TJ, et al. . Comorbid and co-occurring conditions in migraine and associated risk of increasing headache pain intensity and headache frequency: results of the migraine in America symptoms and treatment (MAST) study. J Headache Pain. (2020) 21:1–16. doi: 10.1186/s10194-020-1084-y - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Scher AI, Buse DC, Fanning KM, Kelly AM, Franznick DA, Adams AM, et al. . Comorbid pain and migraine chronicity: the chronic migraine epidemiology and outcomes study. Neurology. (2017) 89:461–8. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000004177 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources