Several substances in food and drink are known to play a role in migraine for some people. MigraineMe watches for the most common ones in the food you log. This article explains, briefly, what each one is.
Caffeine
Caffeine is in coffee, tea, cola, energy drinks, dark chocolate, and some medicines.
For some people, too much caffeine can trigger a migraine. For others, missing caffeine (after the body has got used to it) is the trigger. Many people are sensitive to both. The pattern often shows up as a weekend migraine, when caffeine intake suddenly drops.
MigraineMe watches both the high days and the sudden drops.
Tyramine
Tyramine is a natural substance found in aged cheese, cured meats, pickled foods, and some fermented foods (soy sauce, sauerkraut). It forms naturally as food ages.
Tyramine is one of the most widely-named food triggers. The amount in any given food varies a lot depending on how it was stored.
Histamine
Histamine is found in red wine, smoked fish, aged cheese, fermented foods, and some leftovers (it builds up the longer food sits). Some people are more sensitive to it than others.
Magnesium
Magnesium is a mineral your body needs. Low magnesium over several days is linked to more migraines for some people. It is found in leafy greens, nuts, seeds, whole grains, and dark chocolate.
Riboflavin (vitamin B2)
Riboflavin is involved in how cells produce energy. It is found in dairy, eggs, lean meats, leafy greens, and fortified breakfast cereals.
Where MigraineMe shows you these
- Open MigraineMe.
- Tap the Monitor tab.
- Tap the Diet card to see your daily food log and totals for caffeine, magnesium, riboflavin and the other nutrients. When you log a food, the app shows trigger flags for things like tyramine and histamine.
On a day when a value is far from your usual (for example, much more caffeine than normal), that trigger fires and can appear on your home screen's Top contributors card. Insights shows whether those days line up with your migraines.
How the app gets these numbers
If you log food directly in MigraineMe, the app looks up the nutritional content from a food database (USDA for typed foods, Open Food Facts for barcodes). If you use another food app (MyFitnessPal, Cronometer, etc.) that shares with Apple Health or Health Connect, those numbers flow through.
In short
Caffeine, tyramine, histamine, magnesium, and riboflavin are the main food substances MigraineMe tracks. You do not have to memorise any of them. The app counts them quietly in the background.
This is general information only.
