Migraine (Credit: Canva)
While headaches are common, the intensity of a migraine is an entirely different experience for those who suffer from it. Migraines are defined as a neurological disorder that causes moderate to severe headaches, usually on one side of the head. They also lead to severe symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light, confusion, blurred vision, and frequent mood changes amongst others. However, there are several fruits and vegetables that can prevent migraine attacks, reduce their intensity as well as ease their symptoms.
1. Magnesium Rich Food
Magnesium is necessary for maintaining optimum muscle and nerve function. Now, research has highlighted a connection between migraine frequency and magnesium deficiency. To counter that, one needs to eat magnesium-rich foods such as dark leafy greens, avocados, bananas, and tuna are excellent sources of magnesium. While dark chocolate also contains magnesium, its effect on migraines remains debated.
2. Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Studies suggest that omega-3 fatty acids can reduce migraine frequency. Fatty fish like salmon and mackerel, as well as seeds and legumes, are rich sources of omega-3s.
3. Fiber-Rich Foods
Increased fibre intake has been linked to a reduction in severe headaches. Food items such as whole grains, fruits, vegetables, potatoes, and beans are excellent sources of dietary fibre and they not only aid digestion but also help reduce migraine attacks.
4. Hydration
Dehydration is a common migraine trigger. Staying hydrated may help reduce the severity and frequency of migraines. Additionally, certain teas may alleviate symptoms like nausea.
5. Whole Foods
Minimizing processed foods in favour of whole, unprocessed foods—such as fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, and nuts—can be beneficial. Avoiding additives like artificial sweeteners, preservatives, and flavourings, which may act as triggers, is also advisable.
While there are food items that help prevent migraine, there are others that could work otherwise and trigger migraine. Some of them include:
Maintaining a food journal can help pinpoint migraine triggers. By tracking meals and migraine episodes, patterns may emerge. Once you identify this, you can easily eliminate food items that trigger migraine.
Diets, as a whole, also play an important part in navigating through this chronic disease. While no universal diet exists for migraines, several eating plans show promise to reduce or end it. The list includes ketogenic, low-fat, high-fibre, and plant-based diets. Meanwhile, specific diets like the Mediterranean and DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) are also linked to migraine relief. It is pertinent to note that restrictive diets, such as elimination diets, carry the risk of malnutrition and should only be undertaken with medical supervision.
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One child in India dies every nine minutes from an infection caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria, as it becomes one of the top 10 global public health threats, experts warn.
Dr HB Veena Kumari of the Department of Neuromicrobiology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, claims: "The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly contributed to rising antimicrobial resistance. The World Health Organisation projects that 10 million deaths will occur annually by 2025."
According to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria in the body learns to withstand and remain unaffected by the medicines (antibiotics) meant to kill them.
In such cases, doctors have to switch to different antibiotics, but these backup medicines might not work as well or might cause more side effects. Additionally, infections may also worsen over time as bacteria can become resistant to all available drugs.
Alarmingly is that these tough, drug-resistant bacteria can spread from one person to another, both in hospitals and at home.
According to Dr TS Balganesh, Gangagen Biotechnologies, nearly 36 percent of haemodialysis patients die from fatal infections, which is second only to cardiovascular diseases as a cause of death.
He tells Deccan Herald: "The risk for infective endocarditis in haemodialysis patients is approximately 18 times higher than in the general population and up to 58 percent of these episodes are caused by a bacteria named 'S aureus', with an in-hospital mortality of more than 50 percent."
One out of every six serious infections confirmed in labs worldwide last year could not be killed by the antibiotics meant to treat them.
Between 2018 and 2023, the problem of antibiotics failing (called resistance) got much worse. For many common types of germs, resistance went up by 5% to 15% every year. The growing inability of these essential medicines to work is a huge threat to people everywhere.
The WHO's latest report is the most detailed look yet at this issue. It reports on how much resistance exists across 22 different antibiotics, which include common drugs used to treat everyday illnesses. The report focused on eight common types of bacteria that cause things like:
Additionally, Dr Obaidur Rahman of Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital has also warned that the country’s casual use of Azithromycin, sold under brand names such as Zithromax, Azee and Zmax, has worsened its effectiveness and pushed India closer to a major public health challenge.
A drug often prescribed for sore throats and upper respiratory tract infections, Dr Rahman noted that Azithromycin was once effective against Mycoplasma Pneumonia, a bacterium responsible for pneumonia in adults and children.
READ MORE: India’s New Antibiotic in 30 Years Offers Hope Against Antibacterial-Resistant Infections
However, this is no longer the case as India now shows an alarming 80 to 90 percent resistance to the drug when treating infections caused by this bacterium. A medicine that once addressed a wide range of respiratory problems is no longer reliable for many patients.
The surgeon has since urged people to avoid taking antibiotics without proper medical advice. Most seasonal respiratory infections resolve on their own, and unnecessary drugs only add to the resistance problem.
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Supreme Court on Friday declared the right to menstrual health as part of the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution. The court issued a slew of directions to ensure that every school provides biodegradable sanitary napkins free of cost to adolescent girls. The guidelines also ensured that schools must be equipped with functional and hygienic gender-segregated toilets. The Court directed the pan-India implementation of the Union's national policy, 'Menstrual Hygiene Policy for School-going Girls' in schools for adolescent girl children from Classes 6-12.
Read: Menopause Clinics Explained: Latest Launch By Maharashtra And Kerala Government
A bench comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan passed the following directions:
The court also issued directions for the disposal of sanitary waste. Justice Pardiwala said, "This pronouncement is not just for stakeholders of the legal system. It is also meant for classrooms where girls hesitate to ask for help. It is for teachers who want to help but are restrained due to a lack of resources. And it is for parents who may not realise the impact of their silence and for society to establish its progress as a measure in how we protect the most vulnerable. We wish to communicate to every girlchild who may have become a victim of absenteeism because her body was perceived as a burden when the fault is not hers."
Read: Menstrual Cups To Replace Sanitary Napkins In Karnataka Government Schools
In India, menstruation is still seen as taboo. In fact, there is a lot of shame around it. Menstrual shame is the deeply internalized stigma, embarrassment, and negative perception surrounding menstruation, which causes individuals to feel unclean, or "less than" for a natural biological process. This judgment thus is an effort to do away with the shame rooted in cultural, social, and religious taboos, which is often the reason why many girls drop out, or due to lack of awareness, develop health adversities.
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Most health videos on YouTube, even those made by doctors are also not reliable medical information, found a new study, published in JAMA Network Open. The researchers reviewed 309 popular YouTube videos on cancer and diabetes and found that fewer than 1 in 5 were supported by high quality scientific evidence. About two-thirds of the view had low, very low or no evidence at all to back up their health claims.
What was more concerning is that weaker evidence often attracted more viewer than those backed with strong science. The study looked at videos which had at least 10,000 views. The lead author of the study Dr EunKyo Kang of South Korea's National Cancer Center, said, "This reveals a substantial credibility-evidence gap in medical content videos, where physician authority frequently legitimizes claims lacking robust empirical support."
"Our findings underscore the necessity for evidence-based content-creation guidelines, enhanced science communication training for health care professionals, and algorithmic reforms prioritizing scientific rigor alongside engagement metrics," Kang added in a news release.
The researchers reviewed videos from June 20 and 21, 2025, focusing on cancer and diabetes content. 75 per cent of them were made by physicians. The videos had a median count of 164,000 views and a median length of 19 minutes.
Researchers also developed a scoring system, called E-GRADE to rate the strength of science backed evidence in each video's claim.
The study also found that videos with the weakest evidence were 35% more likely to get higher views than videos with strong scientific evidence.
Richard Saver, a professor of law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill noted that this issue is not just limited to YouTube. "Physician-spread misinformation is a long-standing problem, dating back well before the internet era," he wrote in an accompanying editorial.
Saver said some doctors continue to lean on personal experience rather than solid data, despite evidence-based medicine being regarded as the gold standard. He noted that EBM can feel like it downplays individual clinical judgment. Still, Saver stressed that more research is needed, adding that the study underscores the importance of examining the evidence behind health professionals’ claims on social media.
Health and Me has always stayed a step ahead from medical misinformation and ensured that its readers too consume correct information. Health and Me's Fact Check series have consistently ran checks on bizarre medical claims, whether it is about a magical potion for weight loss, fake health news, or un-scientific remedies.
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