boston drinking three or more cups of coffee daily may be associated with a higher risk of migraine according to a study published thursdayafflicting more than one billion adults worldwide migraine is the third most prevalent illness in the world said researchers at beth israel deaconess medical center bidmc in the usin addition to severe headache symptoms of migraine can include nausea changes in mood sensitivity to light and sound as well as visual and auditory hallucinationsthe study published in the american journal of medicine evaluated the role of caffeinated beverages as a potential trigger of migraineled by elizabeth mostofsky from the harvard t h chan school of public health hsph in the us the researchers found that among patients who experience episodic migraine one to two servings of caffeinated beverages were not associated with headaches on that dayhowever three or more servings of caffeinated beverages may be associated with higher odds of migraine headache occurrence on that day or the following daywhile some potential triggers such as lack of sleep may only increase migraine risk the role of caffeine is particularly complex because it may trigger an attack but also helps control symptoms said mostofskycaffeines impact depends both on dose and on frequency but because there have been few prospective studies on the immediate risk of migraine headaches following caffeinated beverage intake there is limited evidence to formulate dietary recommendations for people with migraines he saidin the study 98 adults with frequent episodic migraine completed electronic diaries every morning and every evening for at least six weeksevery day participants reported the total servings of caffeinated coffee tea soda and energy drinks they consumed as well as filled out twice daily headache reports detailing the onset duration intensity and medications used for migraines since the previous diary entryresearchers used a selfmatched analysis comparing an individual participants incidence of migraines on days with caffeinated beverage intake to thier incidence of migraines on days with no caffeinated beverage intakethis selfmatching eliminated the potential for factors such as sex age and other individual demographic behavioural and environmental factors to confound the datathe researchers further matched headache incidence by day of the week eliminating weekend versus week day habits that may also impact migraine occurrenceselfmatching also allowed for the variations in caffeine dose across different types of beverages and preparationsone serving of caffeine is typically defined as eight ounces or one cup of caffeinated coffee six ounces of tea a 12ounce can of soda and a 2ounce can of an energy drink said mostofskythose servings contain anywhere from 25 to 150 milligrammes of caffeine so we cannot quantify the amount of caffeine that is associated with heightened risk of migrainethe researchers saw no association between one to two servings of caffeinated beverages and the odds of headaches on the same day but they did see higher odds of sameday headaches on days with three or more servings of caffeinated beverageshowever among people who rarely consumed caffeinated beverages even one to two servings