A recent study by Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and published in the Journal of Headache Pain shows that people who consume high amounts of caffeine suffer more ‘occasional’ headaches than those people who consume a low amount of caffeine.
This is important news, though I suspect that most chronic headache sufferers have already given up coffee and caffeinated drinks. When a person tries to control their headaches through diet, giving up caffeine is the first logical step.
There is a paradox here though, and that is that many medications for headaches contain caffeine. Migraine headaches, in particular, are thought to have a vascular component and it is well known that caffeine constricts blood vessels. So, if migraine headaches are caused by the dilation of blood vessels it makes sense that constricting blood vessels by taking a dose of caffeine as the headache begins will be beneficial. And, it is also well known that if a person drinks caffeinated drinks regularly it is almost inevitable that they will suffer caffeine withdrawal headaches if they stop drinking roughly the same amount of caffeine each day; these are known as caffeine withdrawal headaches.
Unfortunately the researchers who did this study don’t know why drinking increased amounts of caffeine increase the potential to suffer more headaches, even so this study is helpful by suggesting that anyone prone to headaches should approach caffeine intake with caution.
Read the review by Science Digest
