washington skipping the morning cup of coffee consuming processed foods or drinking too much alcohol may trigger headaches for people battling migraines according to scientists including one of indian origin who also found that lowfat diets can help better manage the conditionthere are two different approaches to preventing headaches with diet the first approach would be an elimination diet that avoids foods and beverages known to trigger headaches researchers saidthe second approach would be follow a comprehensive diet whose very composition may prevent headaches said vincent martin professor at the university of cincinnati in the usresearchers including brinder vij associate professor at uc performed an exhaustive review of more than 180 research studies on the subject of migraine and dietone of the most important triggers for headache is the withdrawal of caffeine said martinlets say you regularly pound down three or four cups of coffee every morning and you decide to skip your morning routine one day you will likely have fullfledged caffeine withdrawal headache that day he saidthat said too much coffee may also present a risk no more than 400 milligrammes daily one cup is 125 milligrammes is probably the maximum for migraine patients said martinlarge amounts of caffeine can bring on anxiety and depressive symptoms as well as headaches he saidanother trigger for migraine is monosodium glutamate msg a flavour enhancer used in a variety of processed foods including frozen or canned foods soups international foods snack foods salad dressing seasoning salts ketchup barbecue sauce and heavily in chinese cooking said martinyou eat more natural things such as fresh vegetables fresh fruits and fresh meats msg is most provocative when consumed in liquids such as soups he saidalcohol is one of the most commonly reported dietary trigger factors for migraine and studies suggest vodka and red wines especially those with highest histamine content are problematic said martinthere is a lot of interest in glutenfree diets but they are only helpful in lessening headaches if the individuals suffer from celiac disease which can be established by a positive blood test or intestinal biopsy he addedthere have been three comprehensive diets whose very composition may prevent headaches such as low fat and low carbohydrate diets as well as those that increase the amount of omega3 fatty acids and decrease the amount of omega6 fatty acids according to martinlow fat diets restrict the amount of fat to less than 20 per cent of your daily energy requirements vij saidthe beauty of these diets is that they not only reduce headaches but may produce weight loss and prevent heart diseasehe addedthe study was published in headache the journal of head and face pain