Many people complain of getting headaches after drinking red wine. Although it is very arguable that some of these\u00a0people simply had a bad experience drinking lousy wine or in overindulgence and now blame all red wines, there\u00a0seems to be enough evidence to suggest that others consistently experience a real physiological reaction after\u00a0drinking red wine.<\/p>\n
The following article provides an excellent insight into what is known as red wine headache or RWH.<\/p>\n
The Puzzling Red Wine Headache – By Marian Burros (originally published in the New York Times 2002)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n For some people, a glass of red wine is an invitation to a roaring headache. After a few episodes of headache and\u00a0queasiness, those who suffer them may banish wine from their tables for life. The symptoms are part of a syndrome\u00a0known as Red Wine Headache, or RWH.<\/p>\n \u201cThe red wine headache is a real if poorly understood phenomenon,\u201d says an article in the June issue of the Harvard\u00a0Health Letter. That is a masterpiece of understatement. There are many theories about what causes the syndrome,\u00a0but few facts. Dr. Fred Freitag, associate director of the Diamond Headache Clinic in Chicago, said no one really\u00a0knows what leads a patient to develop this type of headache.<\/p>\n It may be caused by \u201ccompounds found in grape skins. They are either naturally occurring or produced through\u00a0fermentation,\u201d Dr. Freitag said. He would postulate no further. \u201cIt\u2019s not as if there are hundreds of thousands of dollars\u00a0for funding\u201d studies to determine the cause, Dr. Freitag said. There is actually a stigma to studying the subject. \u201cI\u2019ve\u00a0entertained the idea of looking for grants to study this and I’ve been told, \u2018Don\u2019t go there, it\u2019s bad P.R.,\u2019\u201d Dr. Freitag\u00a0said. Bad publicity comes to those who would study drinking? Carry Nation is with us yet.<\/p>\n Sulfites used to take the blame for RWH. About 20 years ago the Food and Drug Administration determined that\u00a0about 1 percent of the population is allergic to sulfites and equired that wines containing certain levels of the\u00a0compound be labeled \u201ccontains sulfites.\u201d Many people have assumed, incorrectly, that the labeling is designed to\u00a0warn people who get a red wine headache. [In fact, sulfite sensitivity is a true allergy. Sufferers experience an allergic\u00a0reaction, but not a headache. RWH is something else.]<\/p>\n Scientists have pointed out, however, that many sweet white wines contain more sulfites than red wines \u2014 yet do not\u00a0cause headaches in those who suffer from RWH Additionally, dried fruits usually contain sulfites but you never hear\u00a0of dried fruit headaches. Sulfites can cause an allergic reaction [breathing problems], Dr. Freitag said, but they give\u00a0headaches only to asthmatics.<\/p>\n Other experts think tannins are at the root of the headaches. Tannins are the flavonoids in wine that set one\u2019s mouth\u00a0to puckering. The Harvard Health Letter notes several well-controlled experiments showing that tannins cause the\u00a0release of serotonin, a neurotransmitter. High levels of serotonin can cause headaches and that may happen in\u00a0people who also suffer from migraine headaches. But that does not explain why people who do not get migraines get\u00a0RWH. Dr. Marion Nestle, chairwoman of the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies at NYU, added that no one\u00a0complains about tea, soy, or chocolate headaches \u2014 though all contain tannins.<\/p>\n A third school of thought blames histamines. Histamines are 20 – 200% higher in red wine than in white, and those\u00a0who are allergic to them are deficient in a certain enzyme. Some experts believe that the combination of alcohol and\u00a0that deficiency can cause the headaches. But a study of 16 people with an intolerance to wine, reported in the\u00a0Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (Feb 2001) found no difference in reactions to low- and high-histamine\u00a0wines.<\/p>\n A fourth suggestion is that prostaglandins \u2014 substances that contribute to pain and swelling \u2014 may cause RWH.\u00a0[More on this next month!] Yet for most people who suffer from RWH, the hypotheses are irrelevant. They want to\u00a0know what to do about the problem. Some Web sites suggest prevention: for histamine sensitivity, pop a nonsedating Dr. Freitag frowns on this. To lick the problem, he advises a potentially long, painful, and costly experiment. A sufferer\u00a0of the headaches himself, Dr. Freitag finds that he can drink some reds and not others. \u201cTry different brands, different\u00a0grapes, different countries of origin. That\u2019s the only way you are going to find out.\u201d Drink a half a glass of red wine; if it A Possible Solution<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n So, for all those individuals who develop the red wine drinking debilitative RWH, is there any ray of hope? Well, it\u00a0would appear that a study from back in 1981 provides some potential. \u00a0In 1981 Herbert Kaufman, M.D., reported that the prophylactic ingestion of aspirin prevented the red wine headache\u00a0syndrome, RWH, (Lancet 1981; 1: 1263). He also noted that once RWH begins, aspirin has little or no effect in\u00a0altering the headache. Five years later, in a non-controlled study, Kaufman reported that aspirin inhibited the During the first stage, twelve subjects (nine females and three males) with a history of RWH were challenged with red\u00a0wine, and all experienced RWH. The subjects returned one week later, stage two, and were given inhibitors of\u00a0prostaglandin synthetase or placebo one hour prior to wine ingestion. The two who received the placebo were not\u00a0protected. Kaufman and Starr reported that ten of the subjects who were premedicated failed to develop the RWH;\u00a0two given Acetaminophen developed a “second phase” RWH 6-10 hours after wine ingestion.<\/p>\n Kaufman and Starr conclude that RWH may be due to a metabolic defect and corrected by prostaglandin synthetase\u00a0inhibitors. Mechanisms of correction remain unclear.<\/p>\n Source:<\/p>\n
\nantihistamine like Claritin or take an aspirin to stop production of prostaglandins.<\/p>\n
\nis going to give you a headache, it will do so within 15 minutes. If there is no reaction, stick with that wine for the\u00a0evening, keeping your alcohol consumption to no more than two glasses. Keep a journal. \u00a0And don\u2019t confuse RWH with the headache that comes six hours after a full evening of drinking. That\u2019s called a\u00a0hangover!<\/p>\n
\nimmediate and late phases of RWH, and the proposed mechanism was through interruption of prostaglandin\u00a0synthetase (Immunology and Allergy Practice; 7: 279-84). In a new controlled study, Kaufman and Dwight Starr,\u00a0M.D., Mt. Zion Hospital and Medical Center, examined, through blind evaluation, various inhibitors of prostaglandin\u00a0synthetase (IPS) drugs, aspirin, Acetaminophen, and Ibuprophen, to test if the RWH could be prevented by the\u00a0prophylactic use of these specific medications.<\/p>\n