Anna Kokavec
University of New England, Australia
Posters-Accepted Abstracts: J Diabetes Metab
In the last few years, it has become apparent that a relationship between migraine and insulin resistance may exist. The aim was to report on the efficacy of dietary therapy in the management and treatment of headache symptoms. The dietary regimen employed required a chronic migraine (without aura) patient to: (1) completely eliminate alcohol, monosodium glutamate, artificial sweeteners, sugar and food containing sucrose natural or otherwise from his diet; (2) restrict the consumption of fruit, dairy and fat; (3) consume at least six small meals per day making sure the interval between meals did not exceed 3 hours; (4) increase his intake of complex carbohydrate and water ; (5) upon waking in the middle of the night consume a light snack containing complex carbohydrate and (6) avoid all medication deemed to impact glucoregulation. The results suggested that the implementation of the prescribed dietary regimen was success in reducing headache frequency by at least 70% when compared to pre-treatment levels. Further support for dietary therapy was provided by evidence that any deviation from the prescribed dietary regimen immediately resulted in a 2.5 fold increase in need for headache related pain medication. The data highlights that in some cases the individualâ??s diet may be contributing to the development of headache symptoms. Thus, dietary therapy should also be explored when deciding on the best treatment and management strategy for migraine patients.
Email: akokavec@une.edu.au