Red Wine and Headaches

In fact, if you are one of the unfortunate people who are sensitive to red wine, you can get a headache from drinking even a small amount—in just 15 minutes!

How do you know that this is not a stress or tension headache? Unlike tension headaches, red wine headaches are pretty predictable.

You drink the wine, and you get the headache. Every time.

If you drink too much red wine and get a headache, hours later, that is not a red wine headache. It’s called a hangover headache. And this one is avoidable!

Red Wine Headache Mystery

Here are some of the possibilities:

• Histamines - A very small percentage of people are allergic to histamines, and those people could have a reaction to the histamines in wine. However, a study by the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology was conducted in Feb. 2001 on people who get red wine headaches. The study used people who were sensitive to red wine and indicated that there is no difference in reactions to low or high levels of histamines.

• Sulfites - Sulfites are found in sausage, hot dogs and lunch meat in addition to red wines. For years doctors believed that sulfites caused red wine headaches. However, recent findings indicate that this is not the case. Dr. Fred Freitag (Diamond Headache Clinic, Chicago, IL) has stated, “Sulfites can cause an allergic reaction, but they give headaches only to asthmatics. The more common problem to sulfites is a breathing problem.”

• Tannins - Tannins are the element that gives wine a bitter aftertaste. They come from the skin, seeds and stems and they give red wine its color. Because red wine is fermented longer, it picks up more tannins than white wine.

  Tannin flavonoids cause a release of serotonin when you drink a glass of red wine. It is known that serotonin can cause a migraine headache sufferer to get a headache. However, experts still don’t know if it can cause a non-migraine sufferer to get one.

In addition to these substances, there may be other components of red wine that cause headaches.

No one really knows, so, if you get a headache after drinking a glass of red wine, it’s best to simply avoid red wine.

The mystery of red wine and headaches has not been solved yet, and it may not be resolved for a long time…

And, if you are drinking because you are under stress, keep in mind that there are many other ways to relax and get rid of tension.

You might also like:

• Stress Headache
• What Causes Headaches?
• Naturopathic Headache Relief
• Tension Headache Remedies that Work

Red Wine and Headaches to Types of Headaches

Red Wine and Headaches to Easy Stress Management

New! Comments