Could Your Diet Be Causing Your Headaches?

Certain Foods and Additives Can Cause Headaches.

Caffeine: Too Much or Too Little Can Cause Headaches

Do you get headaches but do not know the triggers? Ask yourself, could your diet be causing your headaches? Sometimes, certain foods can be a hidden source of headaches. Many of the following foods, drinks, and additives dilate blood vessels which put pressure on the nerves in your head, causing a headache. Examine the following culprits and answer the question:

• Too much sugar or not enough sugar (blood glucose levels rise and fall)

• Low sodium

• Lack of caffeine (when you suddenly stop taking it), or too much caffeine

• Alcohol – especially red wine (with tyramine)

• MSG (monosodium glutamate) - This is a very effective flavor enhancer in many food products that works by activating certain taste buds, sending special signals to the brain. It is an additive to many foods like Asian dishes, many popular canned foods/soups, sauces, chips, condiments like ketchup, soy sauce, and mayonnaise, as well as some processed meats, to name only a few. Accent, sold in grocery stores, is almost pure MSG. In the US, food products are required to list monosodium glutamate on the label if it is used.

​​ Aside from occasional headaches (some people are more sensitive than others to MSG), it has an unusual reputation. In the 1960s, it was suspected that MSG might cause cancer. Those studies were found to be unsubstantiated. The use of MSG has since been authorized as safe by the FDA as well as various European regulatory agencies. Overuse should be avoided, however, due to potential side effects, including neurotoxicity. According to Forbes, recommended amounts range from 0.6 grams/day in the US and Europe to 1.6 to 2.3 grams per day in Japan and South Korea, respectively.

• Aspartame (contained in some sugar-free gums, some “zero” and diet sodas, Equal, NutraSweet, Sugar Twin, and others. Be sure to read labels.

• Tyramine is contained in some beans, aged cheeses, some yogurts, cured, processed, and smoked meats, pickled and fermented foods, fermented alcohols (beer, wine, etc.), citrus, and tropical fruits. (Tyramine is actually a well-known cause of migraines.) Companies are required to include Tyramine on their labels.

• Nitrates are commonly used as preservatives in cured meats like hot dogs, bacon, salami, ham, sausage, some deli meats, and many other ultra-processed foods. They can not only cause headaches, but can also transform into nitrosamines, which are known to cause cancer.

• Green, leafy vegetables, including celery,  also contain nitrates (other nutrients, including antioxidants, apparently offset some of the cancer-causing effects of the nitrates in these vegetables).

• Sulfites are contained in processed meats like ham, sausage, bacon, meat snacks, salami, alcohols like beer and wine, many condiments (mayo, ketchup), gravies, sauces, some fruit juices, and as a coloring for sodas like some Coca-Cola products (Coke Zero does NOT have sulfites), Pepsi, Dr Pepper, Fanta, Tango, Sprite, 7UP, Red Bull and others. Sprite does NOT have sulfites.

  
  

Dairy Products

There are also specific food Intolerances that cause headaches cited by the National Headache Institute, which include:

• Cow's milk and other dairy products

• Corn

• Wheat

• Cane Sugar

• Yeast

• Eggs (also contain sulfites)

• Citrus

Could Your Diet Be Causing Your Headaches?

Explore Foods and Additives: Finding the Potential Cause

If you get headaches often and cannot find the cause, you may want to look at the foods (or additives) you are eating before the onset of the headaches. Consider trying an elimination diet, which is just what the name says:

Create a food journal for a few weeks - Read labels and jot down the foods (including the common additives mentioned above) that you eat on a particular day. Also, write down whether or not you developed a headache on those days. Look for trends.  If you believe you see a connection, that is, if you get headaches more often after eating a certain type of food, start eliminating that particular food from your diet for a short time (see food diary).

First, eliminate the most likely food or additive that may be the culprit – do this for three weeks. After eliminating each component of the diet, evaluate yourself for increased or decreased headaches. If you find that the food is not a source of your headaches, return to eating that food and move on to the next one on your list.

This can obviously be labor-intensive and will take some time, but may be well worth effort to eliminate these headaches. It is often best done with the assistance of a dietitian who specializes in elimination diets.

For more ideas on various triggers to headaches and alternative approaches to management, visit our page: An Overview of Headaches.