Being overweight increases your risk of migraine
Added 02.03.2009
Being overweight is a risk factor for diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. But did you know that being overweight may be linked to migraine? New studies have found that people who are overweight - specifically in the stomach area - are more likely to experience migraines than people with a normal weight.
Migraine is most prevalent between the ages of 20 and 55, with women experiencing migraine three times as much as men. A scientific study conducted this year found that women and men with excess belly fat and who were under the age of 55 were most likely to suffer from migraine compared to those with a normal waistline. This link was more apparent in women; women who were very overweight in their waistlines were 30% more likely to have migraines than women without excess stomach fat.
"These preliminary results, may suggest that losing weight in the stomach area may be beneficial for younger people who experience migraine and especially so for women," said study author Dr. Peterlin.
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Dr. Bo Nielsen's comments:
Belly fat has been related to increased risk of many diseases; now migraine seems to be included on this list. Migraine attacks are often caused by several different factors. One factor is hormonal changes; another one is inflammation of the muscles in the neck area. An explanation to why obese people may experience more migraine may be due to the fact that obesity increases the number of free radicals that may cause oxidative stress and that in turn result in chronic inflammation. However, this is just a theory. A combination of medical acupuncture in neck trigger points and natural anti-inflammatory nutritional supplements has shown significant long-term reduction of migraine severity and frequency.
