Genetic bases of the nutritional approach to migraine

Maria Laura De Marchis, Fiorella Guadagni, Erica Silvestris, Domenica Lovero, David Della-Morte, Patrizia Ferroni, Piero Barbanti, Raffaele Palmirotta

Index: https://doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2018.1450215

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Abstract

Migraine is a common multifactorial and polygenic neurological disabling disorder characterized by a genetic background and associated to environmental, hormonal and food stimulations. A large series of evidence suggest a strong correlation between nutrition and migraine and indicates several commonly foods, food additives and beverages that may be involved in the mechanisms triggering the headache attack in migraine-susceptible persons. There are foods and drinks, or ingredients of the same, that can trigger the migraine crisis as well as some foods play a protective function depending on the specific genetic sensitivity of the subject. The recent biotechnological advances have enhanced the identification of some genetic factors involved in onset diseases and the identification of sequence variants of genes responsible for the individual sensitivity to migraine trigger-foods. Therefore many studies are aimed at the analysis of polymorphisms of genes coding for the enzymes involved in the metabolism of food factors in order to clarify the different ways in which people respond to foods based on their genetic constitution.