{"id":9180,"date":"2025-08-05T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/?p=9180"},"modified":"2025-08-04T07:57:42","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T14:57:42","slug":"migraines-and-salt-usc-neurologist-connects-the-dots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/migraines-and-salt-usc-neurologist-connects-the-dots\/","title":{"rendered":"Migraines and salt: USC neurologist connects the dots"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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Migraines and salt: USC neurologist connects the dots<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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Findings from population studies, basic neuroscience research and brain imaging offer clues for understanding the debilitating headache condition, according to Michael Harrington of the Keck School of Medicine of USC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n

\n Wayne Lewis<\/span>\n \n August 05, 2025<\/span>\n <\/div>\n \n \n
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Too many people are familiar with the throbbing pain of migraine headaches. About one in seven people have had migraines. The World Health Organization places migraine as one of the 10 most disabling medical illnesses on Earth. Unfortunately, the cause of migraines is not yet understood. As a result, lasting, dependable solutions for the condition remain elusive.<\/span><\/p>\n

USC neurologist <\/span>Michael Harrington, MB, ChB<\/span><\/a>, has devoted much of his career to increasing knowledge about migraine. Along with his scientific curiosity, the needs of patients are at the top of his mind.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI want to know what\u2019s going on in peoples\u2019 brains when they have migraine,\u201d said Harrington, a research professor of neurology at the <\/span>Keck School of Medicine of USC<\/span><\/a>. \u201cFor a long time, I measured everything I could. Tens of millions of Americans need help, and we definitely want to help them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Harrington thinks that salt intake may hold a key. And he backed that idea with evidence in a recently published research letter in <\/span>Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain<\/span><\/i><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He highlighted findings from large studies that followed people\u2019s diet and health for years, basic research, and studies scanning the brains of human volunteers. The letter brought to light links that tie migraine to the science of how the brain regulates sodium intake.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s clear that higher levels of sodium in the brain play a major role in migraine,\u201d said Harrington, who is a fellow of the UK\u2019s Royal College of Physicians. \u201cBut how it plays that role is far from worked out as of yet.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Lower-salt diet, but more sodium in the brain<\/b><\/h3>\n

The letter was spurred in part by recent research from Denmark. Using questionnaires from thousands of young adults, the study showed in part that headaches are associated with less salt in the diet.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The findings echoed results from 2016 research led by Harrington. That study, the first to examine sodium intake and migraines, dug into data from about nearly 9,000 adult participants from the long-running National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. It showed that a history of severe headache or migraines correlated with lower dietary sodium.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis Danish group \u2014 a long way away, studying a different population \u2014 found the same thing,\u201d Harrington said. \u201cThat replication is rather useful.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In earlier research, Harrington used sodium brain imaging to monitor the brain. He found that during migraine, sufferers have elevated sodium in their cerebrospinal fluid, which circulates through the spine and brain \u2014 but not in their bloodstream. When the same participants had no headache, sodium levels in the fluid were normal.<\/span><\/p>\n

The presence of sodium in cerebrospinal fluid is vital for brain functions, because sodium drives nerve impulses on the molecular level. Insight into how the brain keeps a steady level of sodium in the fluid within it provided another clue.<\/span><\/p>\n

The role of salt appetite and sodium balance<\/b><\/h3>\n

Harrington\u2019s research letter summarized neuroscience discoveries from the past few years by colleagues such as Caltech\u2019s Yuki Oka. These lab studies uncovered circuits in the brain where specialized neurons sense sodium in pockets of cerebrospinal fluid. With too little, these cells signal other neurons that spur appetite for salt and reduce aversion to it. With too much sodium, the sensors put out signals that make low-salt foods attractive and salty foods distasteful.<\/span><\/p>\n

All this happens through the brain\u2019s system for rewards and the autonomic nervous system, which controls all the things the body does without conscious thought. The salt-sensing and appetite-regulating neurons sit in parts of the brain that neighbor areas involved with migraine.<\/span><\/p>\n

Previous studies co-led by Harrington reinforce the salt-migraine connection. In lab models, adding sodium to pockets of cerebrospinal fluid triggered severe headache. Conversely, when the researchers blocked a mechanism that pumps sodium into the fluid, it protected against migraine.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone has some fluctuations of the sodium in their brains,\u201d Harrington said. \u201cHowever, not everyone gets migraine. In people who become sick with migraine, the ability to balance sodium is disrupted.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Clues for further migraine investigations<\/b><\/h3>\n

The research letter concludes that the discoveries that more sodium in the brain reduces appetite for salt help to explain why migraine sufferers take in less salt \u2014 and they do so subconsciously.<\/span><\/p>\n

Harrington intends to follow up on the leads covered in his letter.<\/span><\/p>\n

One avenue for study would assess whether consciously lowering dietary sodium reduces large swings of intake that trigger subconscious responses in migraine sufferers. Harrington\u2019s investigations into how sodium increases in the brain could improve fundamental understanding of migraine and many other fluctuating conditions that involve brain sodium, such as hypertension and mood disorders. Ongoing experiments by his team are evaluating how the sodium is controlled at its main site of production in the brain.<\/span><\/p>\n

With many mysteries to solve, Harrington approaches his mission with determination and optimism.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a great believer that there are explanations for every brain disorder,\u201d he said. \u201cWe just have to find them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Learn more about Michael Harrington\u2019s research.<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":278,"featured_media":9181,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[476,234,20],"class_list":["post-9180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-news","tag-brain-health","tag-department-of-neurology","tag-research"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMigraines and salt: USC neurologist connects the dots<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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