If You Get Migraines, RDs Recommend Monitoring Your Consumption of Foods (and Drinks) Rich in Tyramine

To find what these potential dietary don’ts are—and what tyramine is to start with—we consulted Dani Lebovitz, MS, RDN, a meals training professional and the founding father of Child Meals Explorers based mostly in Franklin, Tennessee.

What’s tyramine?

“Tyramine, a pure substance in our our bodies, helps handle blood strain and mind alerts,” Lebovitz explains. Deriving from the amino acid tyrosine, it’s additionally present in widespread meals and drinks. (It is in the identical chemical group because the neurotransmitters dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin.)

Whereas tyramine has an necessary job in your physique, issues can get dangerous in the event you take monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), a category of medicines used to deal with melancholy and anxiousness. MAOIs assist regulate temper by blocking monoamine oxidase, an enzyme that removes neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine (stuff you want for steady temper ranges) out of your mind. However MAOIs additionally stop the breakdown of extra tyramine within the physique—as a result of bear in mind, tyramine is expounded to these neurotransmitters.

Until you believe you studied or know for positive that tyramine is a set off for you, there’s no want to chop high-tyramine meals out of your food regimen.

Having a surplus of tyramine can result in complications, chest ache, and blurred imaginative and prescient, in addition to blood strain spikes which will require rapid medical consideration. These taking MAOIs could keep away from sure meals¹, and identical goes for individuals liable to migraines. And whereas tyramine consumption could be included in that, consultants warning towards making dietary adjustments with out consulting a skilled dietitian or doctor. “It is all about how your physique processes tyramine,” she explains. “Slicing again on meals excessive in it might make a giant distinction in managing these situations.” However there aren’t any ensures, so communicate together with your healthcare supplier about tyramine-rich meals earlier than you forego crimson wine or ramen with out cause.

What meals comprise tyramine?

Talking of which: Numerous meals comprise tyramine, however fermented or aged meals and drinks are inclined to have essentially the most tyramine. That is as a result of microbes convert tyrosine (the amino acid) into tyramine because the meals age². So the extra “aged” or fermented one thing is, the extra seemingly it’s to have plenty of tyramine.

Meals excessive in tyramine

Lebovitz says that the next meals are usually very excessive in tyramine:

• Aged cheese (comparable to Parmesan, Swiss, Stilton, and Gorgonzola)
• Dry-cured meats (like salami or pepperoni)
• Pickled meals (like kimchi, sauerkraut, or pickles)
• Salt-dried seafood
• Liver
• Sure beans (like Haricot beans)
• Fish sauce
• Soybeans, tofu, and different soybean merchandise
• Miso

Alcohol can be excessive in tyramine due to its strategies of manufacturing. “Alcoholic drinks like beer—particularly draught and craft beers—together with crimson wines are recognized for his or her excessive tyramine ranges,” Lebovitz says.

Should you’re attempting to keep away from high-tyramine meals and drinks, Lebovitz says you may wish to reduce on espresso as a result of the impact of an excessive amount of caffeine (like complications and a racing heartbeat) can mimic these of tyramine. “Due to this fact, people delicate to tyramine may additionally profit from moderating their caffeine consumption,” she says.

“Alcoholic drinks like beer—particularly draught and craft beers—together with crimson wines are recognized for his or her excessive tyramine ranges,” Lebovitz says.

Low-tyramine meals

Should you and your healthcare crew discover that you may benefit from a low-tyramine food regimen, there’s no scarcity of wholesome meals to take pleasure in. Per Lebovitz, they embrace the next:

• Fruits: Apples, pears, strawberries, blueberries, peaches, plums, and bananas that aren’t overripe
• Greens: Leafy greens, carrots, tomatoes, potato, zucchini, and turnips
• Dairy: recent milk, yogurt, and non-fermented cheeses comparable to cream cheese, cottage cheese, and ricotta
• Protein: recent meats, fish, poultry, eggs, beans, canned legumes (excluding fava and broad beans)
• Complete grains: rice, pasta, and bread

As a normal rule of thumb, Lebovitz says you may achieve following a low-tyramine food regimen by consuming the meals above in a immediate method and listening to how they’re saved and ready. “For recent produce, devour it inside a few days of buy. For canned or frozen meals, use them quickly after opening, too,” she advises. On the subject of recent animal proteins, she suggests consuming or freezing them the identical day of buy.

Ought to everybody restrict tyramine?

No, not everybody must stress about tyramine. Some individuals could have to take further care to restrict their consumption of tyramine meals based mostly on their well being situations and drugs. Others could also be extra delicate to it than others, and a few individuals could course of it simply advantageous. Until you believe you studied or know for positive that tyramine is a set off for you, there’s no want to chop high-tyramine meals out of your food regimen.

It’s at all times finest to seek the advice of your health-care supplier earlier than making any main adjustments to your food regimen—particularly in the event you’re managing medical situations. “Should you suppose you’ll have a tyramine sensitivity, preserving a meals log is usually a useful device to establish patterns and potential triggers,” Lebovitz shares. “Assembly with a dietitian [who can] supply personalised steerage may additionally be useful.”