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Guide to Preventing Migraines

Your one-stop source for information on the nutritional approach to preventing migraine attacks, including 7 great diet tips for preventing migraines, the top 7 anti-migraine foods, and the best recipes for staving off migraine headaches.


Occasional, mild headaches are common for most of us. However, some people frequently suffer from intense, debilitating headaches known as migraine headaches. A large body of evidence suggests that nutritional factors may play a significant role in the prevention of these severe headaches. In this online Guide to Migraines and Nutrition we provide you with information and tips on how you can prevent migraine headaches through nutrition.

If you don't know much about migraines yet, ignore the following links for a moment and start by reading the general information below. If you are already familiar with the basics of how migraines develop, you can directly move to one of the three main sections of this Guide to Migraines & Nutrition:

  1. Optimal Diet
  2. Top 7 Foods
  3. Best Recipes

Migraine attacks are often preceded by a prodrome (an early warning symptom), such as seeing flashing lights or a halo around objects, and nausea. Some women regularly have migraine attacks before their menstrual period. In the adult population, migraine attacks are more common among women than in men, with about 18% of women and 6% of men suffering from migraine in the United States. Although the causes of migraine attacks are not fully understood, it is thought that the pounding pain of migraine headaches is caused by dilating (swelling) blood vessels, which may also become inflamed.

A variety of drugs designed to treat and prevent migraines are available on the market. In some cases, however, conventional treatments do not bring the expected relief to migraine sufferers, which has led many women and men to seek alternatives to conventional medicine. The role of diet in tackling migraine has received much attention, and numerous studies show that dietary modification may indeed be highly effective at treating and preventing migraine headaches (see 7 Best Anti-Migraine Diet Tips).