“We found that compared with the people who ate the control diet, migraines were reduced by four headache days per month in the high omega-3, low omega-6 group and by two headache days per month in the group that increased omega-3 intake and continued to eat the same amount of omega-6 fatty acids,” says MacIntosh.
Both the high omega-3 and high omega-3, low omega-6 groups also saw significant reduction in the number of total headache hours per day and the daily number of moderate to severe headache hours compared with the control group.
The authors point out that the average reductions of 1.7 headache hours per day and four fewer headache days per month in the high omega-3, low omega-6 group are comparable with improvements recently reported for Botox injections and monoclonal antibodies targeting calcitonin gene-related peptide. This suggests that dietary intervention could be an effective adjunct for managing migraine.
“This is a very impactful study. We’re always looking to make small changes in a patient’s lifestyle that can impact their headaches, and this research shows that dietary changes can make an impact in chronic pain, including headache,” says Kiran Rajneesh, MD, a neurologist and pain physician in Webster, Texas. Dr. Rajneesh was not involved in this research.
