Last year, several disparate studies found a link between being overweight and migraine. Allegedly, it was found that women suffering from migraine attacks have a tendency to obesity.
However, a new, more fundamental study completely refuted the results obtained earlier.
“Our study has provided encouraging facts - migraines are not related to future increases in relative body weight or obesity,” said Dr. Tobias Kurt, a researcher at INSERM French National Research Institute and the University of Bordeaux.
Conducting a new study, scientists also analyzed the results of the Women's Health Study, which began in the United States in the mid-1990s and studied the role of aspirin in the prevention of heart disease and cancer.
It was reliably established that women who at the time of the study already suffered from migraine were not more likely to become obese over the next 13 years than other women. And the average weight gain in both groups was almost the same, about 10 pounds (4536 g).
"We see no convincing evidence that migraines should be considered a risk factor for obesity," said Dr. Kurt.
The findings are based on observations of 19162 women, health professionals, over the age of 45 years, with normal weight at the start of the study. Nearly 3,500 of them reported suffering from migraines.
After 13 years, 41% of these women were overweight, and about 4% were obese. But in another group of subjects, the indicators were approximately the same.
The assumption by some researchers that obesity is the cause of migraines also does not seem “reasonable” to researchers from France, since the prevalence of migraines has remained stable over the past decades, while the number of people with obesity has risen sharply.
Due to the fact that the researchers observed women aged 45 years and above, it is not known whether the results will be the same for young women.
