Evidence Hub

Association between serum carotenoids levels and severe headache or migraine in adults: a cross-sectional study from NHANES

Tian Hu, Yufei Chen, Siyu Chen, Rui Xue

Frontiers in Nutrition, 2025

8,910 participants · 4 citations

Abstract

Background Carotenoids are well-established for their potent antioxidant properties; however, their potential association with severe headaches or migraines remains largely unexamined. This study was conducted to explore the relationship between serum carotenoid levels and the prevalence of severe headaches or migraines within the US population. Methods We utilized data from the 2001–2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), which comprised a total of 8,910 participants. Serum carotenoid levels—specifically α-carotene, β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin, lutein/zeaxanthin, and lycopene—were quantified using high-performance liquid chromatography. Migraine status was determined based on a questionnaire. The research methodologies employed included multivariate logistic regression, subgroup analysis, and restricted cubic spline (RCS) models. Results The prevalence of migraines in the study population was 22.37%. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that serum concentrations of α-carotene (OR = 0.91, 95% CI: 0.85–0.97), β-carotene (OR = 0.88, 95% CI: 0.81–0.94), β-cryptoxanthin (OR = 0.83, 95% CI: 0.76–0.90), lutein/zeaxanthin (OR = 0.75, 95% CI: 0.67–0.85), and total carotenoids (OR = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.70–0.90) were significantly inversely correlated with severe headaches or migraines; however, no significant association was found for lycopene levels. RCS analysis showed that β-cryptoxanthin had an L-shaped non-linear relationship with migraine…

Read the paper

Related studies

Go deeper in Evidence Hub

Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.

Open this study Sign up free