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The association between dietary tryptophan intake and migraine

Neurological Sciences volume 40, pages 2349–2355 (2019)Cite this article

Abstract

Migraineurs have been identified to have chronically decreased serotonin levels while its concentrations markedly increase during ictal periods. Regarding the importance of adequate tryptophan intake in regulating serotonin homeostasis and subsequent effect on migraine attacks, we designed the current study. The migraine group (n = 514, diagnosed according to the ICHDIII criteria) was recruited from a tertiary headache clinic. The controls consisted of 582 sex-matched healthy volunteers who were randomly selected from general population. After collecting demographic and anthropometric data, a validated 168-item semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was used for dietary intake assessments. Multiple regression models were applied to explore the relationship between migraine and tryptophan intake. The mean (SD) of the age of participants in the controls and migraine group was 44.85 (13.84) and 36.20 (9.78) years, respectively. The multiple regression models were adjusted for age (year), sex, body mass index (BMI) (kg/m2), total daily energy intake (kcal/day), dietary intakes of total carbohydrates (g/day), animal-based protein (g/day), plant-based protein (g/day), total fat (g/day), saturated fat (g/day), and cholesterol (mg/day). It was shown that there is a negative association between tryptophan intake and migraine risk ((OR in the 3rd quartile = 0.46; 95% CI = 0.25–0.85) (OR in the 4th quartile = 0.40; 95% CI = 0.16–0.98) compared with the first quartile; P for trend = 0.045). Therefore, our results showed that subjects who had a median intake of 0.84–1.06 g of tryptophan per day had reduced odds of developing migraine by approximately 54–60%, relative to those consumed ≤ 0.56 g/day.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the participants of the present study. In particular, we extend our gratitude to Ms. Jabbari, and the staff of Sina University Hospital for their kind cooperation. Also, the authors would like to thank the Epidemiology and Biostatistics of the Research Development Center of Sina Hospital for their technical assistance.

Funding

This research was supported by a grant from the Iranian Center of Neurological Research, Neuroscience Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Nutrition and Food Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Soodeh Razeghi Jahromi, Azita Hekmatdoost & Pegah Rafiee

  2. Headache Department, Iranian Center of Neurological Research, Neuroscience Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Soodeh Razeghi Jahromi, Mansoureh Togha, Zeinab Ghorbani, Faezeh Khorsha, Pegah Rafiee, Pedram Shirani & Morvarid Nourmohammadi

  3. School of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Zeinab Ghorbani & Faezeh Khorsha

  4. Department of Neurology, University of California San Diego (UCSD), 9500 Gilman Drive, M/C: 0662, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA

    Hossein Ansari

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  1. Soodeh Razeghi Jahromi
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Correspondence to Hossein Ansari.

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Soodeh Razeghi Jahromi and Mansoureh Togha have equally taken part.

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Razeghi Jahromi, S., Togha, M., Ghorbani, Z. et al. The association between dietary tryptophan intake and migraine. Neurol Sci 40, 2349–2355 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-019-03984-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-019-03984-3

Keywords

  • Dietary amino acids
  • Headache
  • Migraine
  • Serotonin
  • Tryptophan