Foods That Trigger Migraine Attacks

Video Transcript

"Hello I'm Alex Mauskop. I'm a neurologist here in New York City and I am the director of the New York Headache Center. Many foods can bring on a migraine attack. You have to be born to the predisposition to having migraines, otherwise, you can eat or drink anything you want and you will not get a headache but those people who are prone to having migraine headaches will often have a headache from drinking wine or any other form of alcohol and there are people for whom certain types of alcohol for example red wine will do it, white wine will not, beer will do it but Vodka is probably the least likely thing that will cause a headache, but for some people all forms of alcohol and there are even healthy foods that can give you headaches such as yogurt, bananas, citrus fruit, and in some people raisins or any form of dried food, smoked foods, pickled. Preservatives is what usually gives you the headache and it is not the actual food but all the chemicals there. Chocolate is another trigger and so is aged cheese so there is a long list of possible foods and there is a list of foods that applies only to certain people. So how do you find out which food is not good for you? Usually again most of them are obvious. You have a glass of wine, you have a headache but some are more subtle. For example and it doesn't happen often but some people stop eating all the wheat products and they feel much better. Other people it is dairy products and very often it is sugar, ups and downs in your sugar level in the blood can trigger migraines in some people and again it does not apply to everyone but the most common ones again are chocolate, wine, aged cheese and preservatives."