Quantify the intake of fruit and vegetable servings in migraine patients referred to the tertiary headache clinic at the University of Washington. Analyze headache characteristics and other migraine comorbidities as they relate to consumption of fruits and vegetables.

Fruit and vegetable consumption may beneficially influence any headache type, especially migraine, due to their antioxidant contents. This study aims to quantify the amount of servings of fruits and vegetables per week in association with migraine chronification, and migraine comorbidities.

All new patients referred to our headache clinic complete a detailed patient questionnaire. Our intake form asks about fruit and vegetable servings per day, headache characteristics, sleep, depression, and anxiety, among other data. All patient data are analyzed by headache providers who add headache diagnoses using the ICHD-3 criteria.

N=4879 unique patients were diagnosed with migraine. Questions about fruit and vegetable servings were completed by n=4408 patients diagnosed with migraine. 42.11% (n=1856) of these patients reported eating less than three servings daily. Males have fewer servings of fruits and vegetables per day (median of 2) compared to females (median of 3). Patients in the upper quintile of consumption have significantly lower PHQ-4 scores and are more likely to exercise. Patients with sleep difficulties consumed significantly fewer servings of fruits and vegetables. There was no significant difference in consumption between episodic and chronic migraine patients.

Close to 80% of migraine patients do not report meeting the minimum USDA recommendation for fruit and vegetable consumption, especially male migraine patients. Servings of fruits and vegetables correlate with a lesser rate of anxiety, and a greater rate of exercise. We recommend that migraine patients should be counseled by medical providers about USDA dietary recommendations for fruit and vegetable servings as this can be helpful to them.