Red Wine Headaches

While giving wine tastings, people occasionally mention that red wines give them a headache. When I told my land land, I made wine, she said that she suffers from red wine headaches (RWH). She tried a bottle of my 2000 Eno: Zinfandel- Lock Vineyard, and loved it. She was so happy she could enjoy a bottle of California red wine that she bought a case.

The New York Times article, "The Puzzling Red Wine Headache" tries to pinpoint the cause of a poorly understood phenomenon. The article mentions Fred Freitag, associate director of the Diamond Headache Clinic in Chicago, believes no one really knows what leads a patient to develop this type of headache.

Possible Causes of Red Wine Headaches

• Sulfites- About 20 years ago the Food and Drug Administration determined that about 1 percent of the population is allergic to sulfites. They required wine labels to state "contains sulfites."

  People overlook that many sweet white wines contain more sulfites than red wines — yet do not cause headaches. Also, dried fruits usually contain sulfites but you never hear of dried fruit headaches.

  Sulfites can cause an allergic reaction of breathing problems for asthmatics.



• Tannins- Other experts believe tannins in red wine cause the headaches. Tannins build to saliva and make one's mouth to pucker. The Harvard Health Letter notes several well-controlled experiments showing that tannins in the blood cause the release of serotonin, a neurotransmitter. High levels of serotonin can cause headaches and that may happen in people who also suffer from migraine headaches.

  Dr. Marion Nestle, chairwoman of the department of nutrition and food studies at New York University, added that no one complains about tea, soy or chocolate headaches — though all contain tannins
  

• Histamines- A third theory attribute headaches to histamines, which are 20 percent to 200 percent more likely to be in red wine than in white, and those who are allergic to them are deficient in a certain enzyme. Some experts believe that the combination of alcohol and that deficiency can cause the headaches. But a study of 16 people with an intolerance to wine, reported in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology in February of 2001, found no difference in reactions to low- and high-histamine wines.


• Unknown-It may be caused by "compounds found in the skins of grapes and they are either naturally occurring or produced through fermentation," Dr. Freitag said. He would postulate no further. "It's not as if there are hundreds of thousands of dollars for funding" studies to determine the cause, Dr. Freitag said. There is actually a stigma to studying the subject.

Fortunately, no one (yet) has complained to me that my wine gives them Red Wine Headaches. To paraphrase the article: don't confuse R.W.H. with the headache that comes after a full evening of drinking. That's called a hangover.