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There are two different approaches to preventing headaches with diet. The first approach would be an elimination diet that avoids foods and beverages known to trigger headaches. The second approach would be follow a comprehensive diet whose very composition may prevent headaches, explains Martin, co-director of the Headache and Facial Pain Center at UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute and an expert in the area of migraine. His conclusions and others for migraineurs come after performing an exhaustive literature review of more than 180 research studies on the subject of migraine and diet. Martin's two-part review, "Diet and Headache" is available online in the scholarly publication Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain. It is co-authored by Brinder Vij, MD, associate professor in the UC Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation Medicine . "One of the most important triggers for headache is the withdrawal of caffeine," says Martin, who also sees patien...

"Patients tell me it feels like they're being mutilated with an ice pick and is worse than anything they've ever felt," said Juline Bryson, M.D., assistant professor of neurology at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and a board-certified headache specialist. "Because they are so rare, they are often misdiagnosed as migraines or allergies and aren't treated appropriately." Cluster headaches are a series of relatively short but extremely painful headaches that occur in clusters, usually at the same time of the day and night for several weeks, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. They strike one side of the head, often behind or around one eye, and may be preceded by a migraine-like aura and nausea. The intense pain can continue for up to three hours and often wakes people from their sleep. Symptoms include tears, runny nose or congestion, sweating and redness on one side of the face only, Bryson said. Unlike mo...

The Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study, KIHD, analysed the serum vitamin D levels and occurrence of headache in approximately 2,600 men aged between 42 and 60 years in 1984-1989. In 68% of these men, the serum vitamin D level was below 50 nmol/l, which is generally considered the threshold for vitamin D deficiency. Chronic headache occurring at least on a weekly basis was reported by 250 men, and men reporting chronic hea dache had lower serum vitamin D levels than others. When the study population was divided into four groups based on their serum vitamin D levels, the group with the lowest levels had over a twofold risk of chronic headache in comparison to the group with the highest levels. Chronic headache was also more frequently reported by men who were examined outside the summer months of June through September. Thanks to UVB radiation from the sun, the average serum vitamin D levels are higher during the summer months. The study adds to the accumulating body...