It is known that there are factors that increase the risk of provoking migraine attacks in migraine patients. Alcoholic beverages, and especially red wine, are recognized as a precipitating factor of migraine attacks in migraine patients.

A study carried out in the Netherlands by Onderwater et al. analyzed the results obtained from the application of a questionnaire to 2197 patients (aged 18-80 years) with migraine. More than one third of the patients recognized that alcohol was an occasional or habitual precipitating factor of migraine attacks. In these cases the ingestion of red wine caused headache pain in 80%. In one third of the cases in which pain appeared after drinking red wine, the pain appeared in less than 3 hours. The rapid onset of migraine attacks in relation to red wine ingestion, as opposed to hangover headache, suggests different headache mechanisms. Lower alcohol consumption is also observed among migraine sufferers.

These results ratify previous data regarding alcohol, and especially red wine, as a precipitating factor of migraine attacks.

Onderwater GLJ et al. European Journal of Neurology 2019, 26: 588-595.