Assessment of eating behavior in patients with migraine: a case-control study

Altered eating behaviors may precede the onset of full-scale eating disorders. Given the link between eating disorders and migraine, it is critical to identify individuals with migraine with altered eating behaviors. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate eating behaviors in a sample of migraine patients and to examine their potential associations with migraine frequency and related disability.

Adult patients diagnosed with migraine (n = 531) were asked to report their monthly migraine days (MMDs), complete the Headache Impact Test-6 (HIT-6), and answer the Adult Eating Behavior Questionnaire (AEBQ). A group of healthy controls (n = 1062) was also asked to answered AEBQ.

Migraine patients had a significantly lower score in the enjoyment of food compared to controls (P = 0.037), whereas they had significantly higher scores in hunger and satiety responsiveness compared to controls (P values < 0.001 and 0.008, respectively). There were no statistically significant differences between patients and controls in terms of scores for food fussiness, food responsiveness, emotional overeating, slowness in eating, and emotional undereating. There were statistically significant negative correlations between MMDs and both enjoyment of food and food responsiveness scores (P = 0.006 and 0.032, respectively). A statistically significant positive correlation was found between HIT-6 total scores and satiety responsiveness scores (P = 0.002).

Altered eating habits are frequently reported among individuals with migraine, adding to the migraine burden. Health professionals, therefore, need to consider these eating behaviors to foster more tailored nutrition interventions for patients with migraine, aiming at improving their quality of life.