People who suffer from repeated migraine headaches are usually very eager to find a way to prevent or abort them. There are prescription medications such as sumatriptan, of course. These can be very helpful, but not everyone responds to them. Some people get great benefit from over-the-counter migraine medicines. Many people would be thrilled to learn, though, that stopping a migraine might be as simple as eating spicy soup at the first sign of a headache.
What Kind of Spicy Soup Would Work?
Q. You have written that some people stop a migraine by eating Chinese hot and sour soup. You implied that the benefit might be from capsaicin, the compound that gives hot peppers their kick.
While hot and sour soup does a great job at clearing the head and sinuses, it does not normally contain chili peppers. The “hot” in this soup comes from rice vinegar and white pepper. Some American-style Chinese restaurants may use dried chilies or black pepper, but the standard is white pepper.
Chilies and white and black pepper come from different species. It may not matter so long as it works, but we should know the difference.
The Difference Between Peppers:
A. You are right: chili peppers, white pepper and black pepper are different because they come from different plants. Nonetheless, they all stimulate the same TRP (transient receptor potential) channels. This may explain why several different types of spicy soup may help.
Both hot and sour soup and hot gumbo with chili peppers seem to work to control migraines, presumably because of their effects on those TRP channels (Journal of Headache and Pain, online, Aug. 13, 2013). Certain TRP channels are especially sensitive to cold, so even the ice cream remedy might be working through these channels.
