Wine does not come up high on any list of allergic foods or drinks but it does crop up sometimes as a trigger of allergy symptoms.
Years ago when running my first Natural Health Clinic a patient reported headaches and other symptoms after drinking red wine.
Not knowing whether this was a true allergy or an intolerance to one of the ingredients in the wine I suggested she switch to white wine - I actually suggested Champagne.
My patient was very pleased with this suggestion and I thought no more of it.
You may be wondering how a solution of grapes and alcohol can cause an allergy.
After all, Immunologists are forever pointing out that allergies are reactions to a protein, so where is the protein? Ignoring the tiny protein content of grapes themselves we have to look at all the odd ways that wine is made and flavoured to find an answer.
A little research shows that trace amounts of milk or fish protein may be found in some wines leading to the conclusion that we can get a real allergy to wine.
But a little more reading around leads to finding a growing list of additives in the wine that may lead to headaches and queasiness.
Are Sulphites Responsible? As a fan of natural health I am perfectly happy to blame additives.
In this case however sulphites also spelled sulfites, seem to be innocent.
There are plenty of sulphites on foods to which few people are allergic and some white wines have more sulphites than red wines and yet cause fewer headaches.
How about tannins? Wine may contain a medium to high dose of tannins.
These are the complex natural chemicals that make you mouth pucker as you drink the wine.
However tea, chocolate and other foods that do not cause headaches contain high tannin levels.
So tannins seem not to be the culprit either.
It has to be the histamine then? Surprisingly wine contains histamines.
And we may well expect that histamines would cause an allergic reaction but a study done on low and high histamine wine found no connection between amount of histamine in the wine and the ability to cause symptoms.
Wine Allergy is Real Whatever is Causing it.
The complexity of wine makes it possible for ingredients to which you are allergic or perhaps just sensitive to be present in the wine and perhaps not listed on the label.
Experience has to be the teacher and if you find that you get a headache or suffer other symptoms from a small amount of wine- a few sips - then simple avoidance may be the best and quickest answer.
You may prefer to switch to a white wine and perhaps to Champagne just like my happy patient did.
It is a matter of personal preference.