And again fascinating results on the influence of our bacterial roommates (the so-called human microbiome) on our health. I recently reported a very probable connection of the intestinal microbiome (i.e. the bacterial inhabitants of our intestine) to the development of multiple sclerosis. Now there are similar results on the origin of the migraine. A terribly painful illness of unknown origin. Millions of people suffer from recurring, very bad pain in the temples and titres, sensitivity to light, nausea etc., which means that a normal daily routine is no longer possible.
Inflammatory processes in the brain are traded as possible triggers and certain foods are known as so-called triggers or triggers of a migraine attack. All of these foods have one thing in common: a high nitrate content.
As a new publication by researchers at the University of California showed (http://msystems.asm.org/content/1/5/e00105-16#DC1), migraine-prone patients have a different microflora of the mouth.
After the genetic analysis of the so-called 16S rRNA from hundreds of saliva and stool samples, the researchers were able to determine a clear difference in the composition of the respective microbiome. Nitrate-reducing, i.e. metabolizing, bacterial species of the genera Streptococcus and Pseudomonas were found frequently in the samples of migraine patients. A clear indication of the following connection:
Metabolize, i.e. metabolize, these types of bacteria, the orally added nitrate to nitrite, this in turn is converted to nitric oxide, which in turn can lead to vasodilation (vasodilation) and this ultimately leads to the dreaded migraine attacks.
If this connection actually turns out to be a trigger for migraines, one could try probiotic approaches to replace these types of bacteria with non-nitrate-converting species and prevent the migraine attacks.
Very exciting and this approach will definitely be pursued further. Updates will follow if there is any exciting news.
