"Uncured" meats?
So we had ham for Christmas. We made sure to get one that said uncured. But I have a migraine. I've been doing a little reading. And it looks like at least for ham, "uncured" just means naturally cured? Can natural curing still create the chemicals that are migraine triggers? Should I avoid ham altogether? Or is this migraine probably triggered by something else?
This is such a great question
I'm no food expert but my understanding is that cured meats that are 'naturally cured' are cured with nitrates from things that occur naturally (so like natural plant nitrates, rather than manufactured nitrates). So I suppose if you are sensitive to nitrates, this could still be a trigger for you. I hope a food expert comes along and helps out on this one! I know there are methods for preserving meats that can be done at home (like we used to all have to do!) which probably can avoid this but you'd probably need to get the meat itself from a butcher so it's completely unpreserved.
We've got an article on food additives that might give more insight into other possible food additive triggers https://migraine.com/blog/foods-potential-migraine-triggers-understanding-food-chemicals . Maybe another culprit lurks within the ham for you?
Do you have any other food related triggers that you know of?
Warmly, Tracy (Team Member)
