NEWS

LONDON: Drinking water directly from plastic cups or bottles could be giving millions of people around the world a serious headache. New research has confirmed that a chemical in synthetic packaging triggers migraines. 

Bisphenol A (BPA) which has been linked toobesity, infertility and heart attacks has now been confirmed through toxicological studies to be a serious trigger for a serious prolonged bout of migraine. 

Researchers at the University of Kansas Medical Center reported a 24% increased risk for overall cardiovascular disease in men who experienced-migraines compared to those who did not including a 42% increase in heart attack risk. 

The findings suggest that migraine sufferers might be able to reduce the frequency and severity of their headaches by changing their habits. 

Three in every four adults aged between 18 and 65 suffered from some form of headache disorder including migraine and tension-type headaches last year. In India over 10 crore people suffer from migraine. 

Women are three times more likely than men to have migraine. About 4% of people who are more than 65 years, suffer from migraines. Men who suffer migraine headaches have a higher risk of heart disease, particularly heart attacks. 

BPA is considered an "environmental oestrogen" because it mimics the hormone estrogen in the body. The effect of BPA exposure on cancer has been widely studied but little is known about its role in worsening migraine and other pain syndromes. 

"We hypothesized that BPA exposure would activate estrogen receptors exacerbating migraine symptoms," researchers said. 

In a group of rodents with migraines, those that had been exposed to BPA showed significantly worse migraine symptoms than those that had not. "This is an entirely new direction for the field of migraine," the scientists said. If patients eliminated all plastic and canned packaging, it would demonstrate a 66% decrease in urinary BPA in patients after just three days. 

"These findings suggest that a clinical trial to decrease BPA exposure and levels in migraine sufferers may reduce the frequency and severity of headaches and may increase the quality of life for migraine sufferers," the team added.