Wine Headaches: The Truth
Brandon MarcFirst, let’s clear something up. The hangover you get after over-indulging in your favourite bottle of plonk is NOT a Red Wine Headache (RWH). It’s a hangover. RWH can be considered a syndrome and affects many unlucky wine-drinking individuals in varying degrees. There are currently only theories as to what causes these untimely headaches and no solid evidence to prove either one.
The ‘traditional’ theory points to sulphites being the cause of the problem but has since fallen out of favour. What heightened the public popularity of this theory is when all wine containing a certain amount of sulphite had to be labelled ‘contains sulphites’. Contrary to the belief of the public, this was only enforced as a measure to warn those who were allergic to sulphites and was not intended to support sulphites as the cause of RWH.
Other more modern theories propose that tannins, histamines or tyramines may be the cause of the insufferable syndrome but, like sulphites, have not been proven.
So, all we are able to deduce is that RWH syndrome does occur and, like so much of science, we don’t know why. And until we know exactly why there’s not much we can do about it other than drink wine moderately and selectively. If you are a RWH sufferer please share your thoughts and experiences with us here at My Wine Cellar by commenting below.
Cheers!
Brandon Marc
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Comments
Brandon Marc (Who am I?) Hi Ryan,
You could well be a sufferer of RWH Syndrome… many people are. The difficulty is that it affects people in different ways, and no one quite knows why or how.
In my opinion, as I mentioned above, the best thing to do is just experiment with different wine varieties/styles and stick to the wines that agree with you.
Brandon Marc
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Brandon, please help me understand something - I can drink a fair amount of red wine with a glass of water in between and hangover’s don’t really affect me. The problem however comes into play when I drink white wine - it just doesn’t agree with me and the headache/hangover can be rather severe to say the least! Is there any logical explanation for this? Just to clear things up, I only drink a glass or two of white wine and still have the same horrid results later that evening/the next day.
If you or anyone reading this can be of assistance, I’d be most thankful!
Cheers! (with a glass of smooth red in my hand)