Assessment of pyridoxine and folate intake in migraine patients

BACKGROUND: Migraine is a highly prevalent disorder worldwide. It affects 10–20% of the population during their lifetime. Recent studies have indicated that supplementation with folate and pyridoxine improves migraine symptoms. This study was undertaken to evaluate dietary intake of folate and pyridoxine in migraine patients and assessed their association with the frequency of migraine attacks. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a case–control study performed on 124 migraine patients and 130 non-migraine subjects. Individuals’ common dietary intake was determined by using a valid semi-quantitative 168-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Data had been analyzed using independent t-test using SPSS software (version 18). RESULTS: In this study, we found that migraine patients had lower intake of dietary folate compared with control group, but energy and pyridoxine intake were not different between the two groups. Further analysis among men and women revealed no statistically significant changes in these relationships. In addition, we found no significant association between dietary intake of pyridoxine and folate with the frequency of migraine attacks. CONCLUSION: Migraine patients had lower dietary intake of folate, compared with non-migraine group subjects. There was no significant association between folate and pyridoxine intake with the frequency of migraine attacks. Further studies are needed to confirm our findings.