A ketogenic diet or keto diet contains a moderate amount of proteins, rich in fats & shallow carbs. Studies claim that it was used to treat epilepsy for a long time. Due to its fantastic therapeutic properties of managing epilepsy, the keto diet is mostly suggested to prevent or treat other brain disorders like migraine attacks.
This article will make you aware & figure out exactly how the keto diet can prevent migraine attacks.
Relation Of The Keto Diet & Migraine
Our body breaks down the carbs present in our food to provide the cells with the needed energy for activities. As you now know that the keto diet contains low carbs, less than 50 grams a day. So when you limit the carb intake for 3-4 days, your body looks out for alternative energy sources to meet its energy needs.
To get so, it begins to break down the fats in the liver to produce ketones. These ketones are easily used by the body & brain for the energy required. Due to this, your body enters a state called ketosis, where the blood ketone levels are high.
Researchers suggest that these ketones possess protective effects against migraines. Migraine is characterized by a severe form of headache that produces pulsing & throbbing pain, usually on one side of your head.
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Although the exact mechanism for protecting against migraine is unclear, it is suggested that the ketones on a keto diet restores the energy metabolism & manages brain inflammation in patients with migraine.
Ketones Are May Be Effective Against Migraine Attacks
According to a study held in 1928. researchers found that 39% of people had decreased frequency of migraine attacks with an increased keto diet. Another study in 1930 showed that people on the keto diet experienced no migraine for three months after entering ketosis.
Interestingly, a new study in 2015 was performed where the frequency of migraine attacks got significantly reduced after women who followed a low carb keto diet for one month. This woman also had a weight loss because the keto diet is more associated with weight loss than migraines or migraines are linked with weight reduction.
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To confirm this, research was done where the participant experienced less than three migraine attacks a month in the low-calorie keto diet than those in the high-calorie non-keto diet.
We can correlate them from the above studies that the keto diet may treat migraine attacks but can’t prevent it entirely.
Studies Are Still Needed
From the current studies or evidence, it is although clear that the keto diet helps to reduce migraine duration, frequency, or severity. But, more confirmation through researches is still needed before implementing it as a primary method to prevent migraine attacks.
It is unknown whether the keto diet can be followed for a longer duration. Keto diet is known to change bowel habits if used for the long term. Also, it may be contraindicated in people with liver failure, pancreatitis, or other liver disease condition.
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Exogenous ketone supplements are also known to elevate blood ketone levels mimicking the condition in the keto diet. Therefore, many more studies are needed to confirm the effect of the keto diet in the management of migraine.
Keto diet has been seen quite effective against managing migraine effects. But still, additional researchers are required to confirm for the same.
