Alternative migraine therapies can work alongside traditional treatments to reduce migraine attack frequency and lessen the impact of symptoms. People without migraine who consume greater quantities of alcohol often report immediate headaches. Then again, according to a 2023 review of research, studies have found that alcohol appears to be less likely to cause migraine headaches. If you aren’t sure that alcohol is to blame for your headaches, try keeping a diary. Each time you drink, write down the type of alcohol you have, the amount, and if and when you had a migraine. Include how you felt the prior 48 hours as well as any stress or anxiety you were under at the time.

Alcohol and migraines

Let’s explore the best and worst types of alcohol for people with migraine. Researchers don’t know exactly what causes alcohol-induced migraine attacks. While in some cases it is likely the presence of alcohol itself, it is also possible that specific components of different alcoholic drinks act as triggers. Much like food triggers for migraine, people may have a higher sensitivity to certain organic components commonly found in alcoholic drinks.

While these headaches eventually do subside, it is important to talk to a medical provider about headache triggers and develop a plan to minimize them. Mixed models obtain the differences between each individual effect and the population estimates, thus estimates from Table 4 can be adjusted to provide an individualized model for each user. Figure 1 shows the results of the predicted probabilities (median and 95% CI) of migraine attack for each of the 487 individuals. Results of the logistic regression models of the log odds of migraine attack in relation to alcohol consumption.

This percentage is very similar to the amount reported in a study on migraine and triggers. Clear liquors (gin, vodka and clear tequila) were found to be tolerated best. Things like stress, lack of sleep (too much sleep as well), hormones and weather can play a huge part of triggering an attack. We tend to focus on the last things consumed as the most likely trigger. When we really keep track, sometimes we find that the food or drink was not to blame at all.

What not to drink during a migraine attack?

When I’m going to be out, I always try to be prepared for a pending attack. Migraine is an individualistic and personal disease because it impacts us all differently. Overall, I feel more research and funding for migraine and headache disorders must be done. Wine (more red than white) and other grape products have been shown to have an endothelium-dependent vaso-relaxing activity, probably via nitric oxide (NO)-mediated pathway; ethanol and resveratrol cause no relaxation 62. Alcohol-free red wine polyphenol extract increases endothelial NO release 64.

Best and Worst Types of Alcohol for People With Migraine

• However, a 2019 study found higher rates of vodka consumption among drinkers with frequent migraine attacks.
• Headache from alcohol withdrawal — also known as delayed alcohol-induced headache, or a hangover — usually develops the morning after you drink alcohol, when the level of alcohol in your blood drops to almost nothing.
• Each time you drink, write down the type of alcohol you have, the amount, and if and when you had a migraine.

Ginger appears to be the most potent food for stopping migraines. However, not all whole plant foods are protective, so the study included an elimination period to remove corn, wheat, and nuts from the volunteers’ diets. Most foods high in tyrosine are aged, fermented, or stored for long periods. Cheeses are particularly high in tyrosine, while fresh foods, especially fruits and vegetables, top the list of safe foods on is alcohol a migraine trigger a migraine diet. A study of over 20,000 participants found that light exertion — without sweating or getting out of breath — was most beneficial for migraine relief. Another natural way to prevent migraines is to stay well-hydrated.

Is Alcohol Consumption a Trigger for Migraine?

Original studies were selected if they reported in the results a numeric percentage of headache patients referring any ADs as a trigger factor. Other studies useful for the correlation of the results with the pathogenesis of the primary headaches where also selected. In addition to red wine, other alcoholic beverages, including beer, white wine, and liqueur, have also been reported as headache triggers. Study participants reported whether they had consumed alcohol each day, and if so, how many alcoholic beverages they drank. The investigators then defined a migraine attack as one migraine day or a series of consecutive migraine days.

Early effects of alcohol may dull sensations and have an analgesic (pain-relieving) effect. But as alcohol leaves your body, it may have the opposite effect and increase pain sensitivity. Once it gets into your system, it is converted into a chemical that triggers migraine.

Alcohol being a common trigger in the principal types of primary headaches, suggest that these headaches can share a pathogenetic mechanism and that this trigger acts at the start of the neuronal pathway involved in headache provocation. To define this important issue, we have reviewed alcohol as a trigger of primary headaches and discussed the possible correlation of the results with the principal pathogenetic theories of the primary headaches. The informal poll of our Migraine Strong community members indicated that 53% are triggered by alcohol.

However in vivo studies show that only the ingestion of red wine with alcohol, but not of dealcoholized red wine, provokes arterial dilatation and thus the effect of wine is due to ethanol 65. Also oral intake of pure alcohol (at a dose corresponding to a two drink equivalent) produces significant vasodilatation in man 66. The relation between tyramine and migraine has been studied most extensively. Half were pioneering studies performed by Hanington et al. (see 37) which showed that oral tyramine provoked headaches in dietary migraine patients but not in nondietary migraine or controls. However, two conclusive negative studies were found on the relation between oral tyramine and headache attack in dietary and nondietary migraine. Therefore, if ADs are definitely confirmed a common trigger of various primary headaches, some of which with phenotypic overlap, it is more plausible that they act probably at a common central cortical or subcortical levels.

• They found that eating plenty of vegetables, beans, and whole grains seemed to protect against migraines.
• People without migraine who consume greater quantities of alcohol often report immediate headaches.
• This is the restorative stage of sleep and when it is disrupted, it can cause drowsiness during the day, and lead to other migraine symptoms.
• Did you know that 20% of women say they avoid pregnancy because of migraine?

But she was cautiously optimistic about how the current results might change how people think about the relationship between the two. But now, a new prospective cohort study suggests that alcohol may be less important as a trigger factor than previously assumed. Mounting evidence suggests there may be a connection between migraine and mental health. Anxiety disorders and depression are two of the most commonly reported mental illnesses among people who are diagnosed with migraine. By learning how migraine and mental health impact one another and ways to manage both, you can improve your quality of life.

The mechanisms of alcohol-provoking headache were discussed in relationship to the principal pathogenetic theories of primary headaches. The conclusion was that vasodilatation is hardly compatible with ADs trigger activity of all primary headaches and a common pathogenetic mechanism at cortical, or more likely at subcortical/brainstem, level is more plausible. This was an observational prospective cohort study among individuals with migraine who registered to use a digital health platform for headache. Eligible individuals were aged ≥18 years with EM who consumed alcohol and had tracked their headache symptoms and alcohol intake for ≥90 days. Different studies report different findings on which type of wine triggers the most migraine attacks. For example, a European study found that 11 percent of migraine sufferers pointed to red wine as the most common culprit.

This was supposed to be due to previous experiences of alcohol as headache trigger, but one study does not agree 34. Certainly, if a less alcohol preference in migraine patients will be confirmed in large controlled studies, it merits a correlation with 5-HT system, which is involved in migraine pathogenesis in some way. In fact, an inverse relationship between density and metabolic functioning of regional brain 5-HT system and alcohol preference was repeatedly reported in animal studies 69–72. In females with migraine, there was a significantly higher percentage of nonconsumers of alcohol than that reported in national studies on the population, using the same parameters, in females of the same region 35 (Fig. 2).

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In fact, it was also suggested that dural mast cells could promote headache by releasing 5-HT, prostaglandin I and histamine 61. Alcohol is embedded in our society, and it is difficult to be in a public space without seeing a reference to alcohol or being offered a drink. Alcohol is broken down in the liver by an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase. People with a variant in this enzyme have issues with metabolizing alcohol and can develop total body flushing or reddening of the skin. The carbon dioxide gas bubbles in Champagne help your body to absorb the alcohol faster.