Australian research finds low blood sugar can trigger migraines, unlocking potential new treatments

Five million Aussies suffer from migraines but new research has found a key trigger that could be treated with a simple change. See how.

Low blood sugar has been identified as a key trigger for migraine headaches suffered by five million Australians in a major breakthrough that could change the treatment of the condition.

Australian researcher Rafiqul Islam has also found that having Type 2 diabetes can actually protect you against migraine.

“Our finding is low blood sugar actually can trigger migraine and high blood sugar can protect migraine,” he told News Corp.

The discovery could lead to new treatments but also simple prevention methods that see sufferers adopt dietary changes to keep their blood sugar levels at a healthy rate.

“Our findings provide avenues to develop novel treatment strategies for managing glycaemic traits in migraine and headache patients, particularly increasing fasting proinsulin level to protect against headache ” he said.

Five millions Aussies suffer from migraines – more people than have asthma or diabetes combined. Picture: Getty Images

Mr Islam’s Queensland University of Technology study published in the journal Human Genetics crossmatched genes associated with migraine against genes associated with blood sugar levels and found they were linked.

Mr Islam said the reason there could be an association between blood sugar levels and migraine was that “the brain actually requires glucose for metabolism”.

“So a low level of blood glucose actually can reduce the brain metabolism and at the same time it can actually increase the cortical spreading depression (a depolarisation wave in the brain involved in migraine),” he said.

There have been reports some patients who eat something sweet like chocolate or fruit juice when they have a headache start to feel better, he said.

“Blood sugar is required by the brain and if it is not sufficient we get a hypoglycaemia and the brain actually cannot perform its metabolism properly, so that can actually trigger migraine,” he said.

The study found people with a genetic predisposition for suffering Type 2 diabetes which is characterised by high blood sugar readings were less likely to suffer migraine.

This did not mean people should aim to raise their blood sugar readings to diabetic levels, Mr Islam said.

“We don’t want that. We want actually the optimum level of blood sugar level which is 6.5 millimoles per litre in fasting condition, and after meal is less than 11 millimoles per litre,” he said.

Blood sugar is required by the brain and if we don’t get enough we suffer from migraines, the researchers found.

To keep their blood sugar readings at healthy levels migraine sufferers should not skip meals, eat regularly and consume a healthy diet.

He is seeking funding for a new study where he will test the blood sugar readings of people when they are suffering a migraine to see if they have low sugar levels.

While blood sugar levels were important in triggering migraines they were not the only factor at play.

Some women suffered migraines associated with changes in their hormone levels, he said.

Five million Australians suffer from migraines – more people than have asthma or diabetes combined.

A recent Deloitte report found it costs the health system $14.3 billion a year and the economy another $16 billion in lost working hours.

It is so poorly managed one in 10 patients go on to develop medication-overuse headaches which means they are in pain more than 15 days in every month.

Migraine is more than just a headache. Patients may experience nausea, vomiting, light sensitivity, have speech problems and cognition issues for up to 72 hours, and afterwards can feel tired, weak and cognitively impaired.

Originally published as Australian research finds low blood sugar can trigger migraines, unlocking potential new treatments