Joy Healey

Cane Sugar and Migraine



Posted: Monday, January 12, 2009

by Joy Healey

The Lancet study of 1979 (which became the basis for so many subsequent studies on food sensitivity and migraines) listed ten common food triggers, of which cane sugar is just one(1).

The correlation between migraines and cane sugar or refined sugar consumption has been exhaustively covered in many migraine forums, and sugar remains on the top ten most wanted list for migraine triggers. One German biochemist claims to have cured himself, and others, of migraine just by avoiding cane sugar(2).

Sugar sensitivity is not always strictly an allergy - however, often the connection between migraine and sugar is actually that the sufferer's blood sugar is either too high or too low. Diabetics report severe migraines in cases of a "dump" of sugar into the system, supporting the fact that migraines can be triggered by sugar, even if it is not due to a 'sensitivity' as the term is commonly used. Hypoglycemic patients report even more instances(3).

One Italian study compared insulin sensitivity in 30 patients with migraine with 15 healthy comparison subjects. When given a high-sugar drink, participants were monitored for changes in previously stable blood sugar levels. The levels in the migraine patients stayed higher than those of the control group for three hours after the test; other indicators showed that insulin sensitivity was impaired in the migraine group.

An interesting point to be made relates cane sugar sensitivity to reports of migraines caused by MSG. The flavor enhancer and meat tenderizer, widely found in many foods, but most commonly associated with "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome", has long been thought to be a culprit in the migraine trigger family. Many people do not know that MSG is commonly made using cane sugar, so it's quite feasible for it to be a migraine trigger(5).

If sugar can be deleted from the diet for a period of two to four weeks, then reintroduced in a controlled test, then it may be possible to pinpoint if it is causing a problem. Recording levels of blood sugar and plotting them against migraine attacks could be an interesting exercise. Like any food sensitivity, cravings for the trigger often occur, and rebound migraine is also a possibility.

Research by Grace Alexander

References:
(1) Food, Allergies and Migraine. Grant ECG, Lancet, May 5, 1979;966-969. 37344
(2) Low R. Migraine. New York: Henry Holt. 1987
(3) Byer, JA and Dexter, JD, Hypoglycemic migraine, Mo. Med., 72, 194, 1974
(4) SOURCE: Cephalalgia, August 2005.
(5) Is MSG Causing Your Headaches? C. Young, LifeScript, Pub. June 23, 2008

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Joy Healey qualified as a nutritionist in 2000, at the London Institute for Optimum Nutrition. Her specialist subject was migraine. To read more articles on migraine and for some unusual possibilities of food intolerance subscribe to the free mini-course at: http://www.StopTheMigraineMadness.com
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by straight talk
 3 years 116 days ago.
112 fans. Follow straight talk on twitter!
I agree. I suffer from a headache all the time of varied degree. I have learned to live with it while taking pain killers. Allergies, food,stress whatever, it is there every day. Good article, Thanks.
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