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
. 2022 May 30;22(1):199.
doi: 10.1186/s12883-022-02723-0.

The potential impact of nutritional intake on symptoms severity in patients with comorbid migraine and irritable bowel syndrome

Rehab Magdy  1 , Ragaey A Eid  2 , Mahmoud Hassan  3 , Mohamed Abdelghaffar  4 , Asmaa F El Sayed  5 , Zeinab Mohammed  6 , Mona Hussein  7
Affiliations

The potential impact of nutritional intake on symptoms severity in patients with comorbid migraine and irritable bowel syndrome

Rehab Magdy et al. BMC Neurol. .

Abstract

Background: Specific dietary recommendations for migraine patients with comorbid irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) are lacking. This work aimed to study the severity scores of such two common pain-related disorders in relation to various macronutrients and micronutrients intake.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on patients with concomitant migraine and IBS. The frequency and intensity of migraine attacks and the severity of IBS were evaluated. Data on dietary intake were collected using food frequency questionnaires and 24-hour dietary recall.

Results: One-hundred patients with a median age of 36 years participated. The severity scores for migraine and IBS were positively correlated with fat and copper and negatively correlated with fiber and zinc intake. Copper intake was an independent predictor of the severity of both migraine and IBS (P 0.033, < 0.001). Patients with episodic migraine (n = 69) had a significantly higher frequency of cooked, fresh vegetables, and wheat bran bread intake (P 0.009, 0.004, 0.021) and lower frequency of hydrogenated oils intake (P 0.046), in comparison to patients with chronic migraine (n = 31). Patients with moderate intensity of migraine (n = 37) had a significantly higher frequency of herbal drinks intake (P 0.014) than patients with a severe intensity of migraine (n = 63). Patients with mild (n = 13) and moderate IBS (n = 41) had a significantly higher frequency of wheat bran bread and sen bread intake (P 0.003, 0.022) than patients with severe IBS (n = 46).

Conclusion: Patients with comorbid migraine and IBS are advised to adhere to a diet low in fat and copper and rich in fiber and zinc.

Keywords: Food frequency questionnaire; Irritable bowel syndrome; Macronutrients, micronutrients; Migraine.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Lankarani KB, Akbari M, Tabrizi R. Association of Gastrointestinal Functional Disorders and Migraine Headache: a Population Base study. Middle East J Dig Dis. 2017;9(3):139–145. doi: 10.15171/mejdd.2017.64. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cole JA, Rothman KJ, Cabral HJ, Zhang Y, Farraye FA. Migraine, fibromyalgia, and depression among people with IBS: a prevalence study. BMC Gastroenterol. 2006;6(1):26. doi: 10.1186/1471-230X-6-26. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chang F-Y, Lu C-L. Irritable bowel syndrome and migraine: bystanders or partners? J Neurogastroenterol Motility. 2013;19(3):301–311. doi: 10.5056/jnm.2013.19.3.301. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Mittal R, Debs LH, Patel AP, Nguyen D, Patel K, O'Connor G, Grati M, Mittal J, Yan D, Eshraghi AA, et al. Neurotransmitters: the critical modulators regulating gut-brain Axis. J Cell Physiol. 2017;232(9):2359–2372. doi: 10.1002/jcp.25518. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Arzani M, Jahromi SR, Ghorbani Z, Vahabizad F, Martelletti P, Ghaemi A, Sacco S, Togha M. On behalf of the School of Advanced Studies of the European headache F: gut-brain Axis and migraine headache: a comprehensive review. J Headache Pain. 2020;21(1):15. doi: 10.1186/s10194-020-1078-9. - DOI - PMC - PubMed