Sunday, May 27, 2012
Tuesday, November 30, 2010 Michele Hamilton asks

Q: I have read that foods containing tannic acid can trigger migraines. Is this true?

And,if so, please list those foods so I can avoid them.

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Answers (2)
Teri Robert, Health Guide
12/ 8/10 12:13am

Michelle,

 

-:¦:-•:*'""*:•.-:¦:-•*Welcome to MyMigraineConnection!*•-:¦:-•:*'""*:•.-:¦:-

 

Tannic acid is a synthetic form of tannin. Tannic acid is approved for use in foods and is added to many packaged foods.

 

Tannins are polyphenols, a natural substance found in almost all plants.

 

Why certain foods with tannins (and tannic acid) tend to be triggers for some people in some foods but not others isn't fully understood. Coffee and tea are the most common trigger foods that contain tannins.

 

That said, most doctors recommend doing an elimination diet to determin which foods, if any, are triggers for us rather than permanently eliminating all potential trigger foods from our diets. For more information and a workbook on this, see Managing Migraine - Migraine Trigger Foods.

 

Welcome again,

Teri

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12/ 1/10 9:06am

I'm not familiar with tannic acid, so I can't help you there.  But I can give you some good general information.

 

Migraine trigger foods are very individual.  You might find you have no trigger foods, or weird ones that aren't common.  My only food triggers are oranges and Stevia, but I can drink diet coke and red wine and eat chocolate with no problems, even though these are common triggers.

 

The best way to find out what your food triggers are is keep a food diary and migraine diary.  Write down what you eat daily, and then when a migraine comes, see what foods you've eaten in the past 48 hours.  Do this for a while, and you can see if a pattern emerges.  Also, if you get a migraine pretty quickly after a certain food (say 20-60 minutes), there is a good chance it's a trigger. That's how I figured out the oranges.  

 

You can also do an elimination diet, though this will probably be more helpful if you've managed to get a few suspects.  Remove the offending foods, then add them back one at a time to see if they are in fact a trigger. 

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By Michele Hamilton— Last Modified: 01/01/11, First Published: 11/30/10