The association between use of dietary supplements and headache or migraine complaints

To examine the prevalence of headache or migraine complaints and the use of dietary supplements, and to determine their correlation according to sex.

This population-based cross-sectional study used data from a 2005 National Health Interview Survey of 15,414 participants (age 18-65 years) in Taiwan. Prevalence of headache or migraine complaints was accessed by a single question on their occurrence during the previous 3 months. Dietary supplement use was evaluated by another single question. Data were stratified by sex and analyzed using independent t-test, chi-square test, and multivariate logistic regression.

The prevalence of headache or migraine complaints was 17.2% in males and 32.4% in females. The percentage of women taking supplements was 31.8%, which was much higher than the 15.5% of men. In male supplement users, use of isoflavones had a significantly higher odds ratio (OR) of headache or migraine complaint compared with those of male without use of isoflavones (adjusted OR = 3.86, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.68-8.85). In females, vitamin B complex, vitamin C, and green algae supplement use had higher likelihoods of headache or migraine complaint in comparison to those of female without use of supplements (adjusted OR = 1.28, 1.21, and 1.43; 95% CI = 1.05-1.57, 1.03-1.42, and 1.07-1.90, respectively).

This population-based study confirmed sex-specific associations between headache or migraine complaints and the use of dietary supplements, warranting further investigation of the underlying causes.