Enjoying a glass of wine is a very popular way to spend quality time, either with friends or alone, with a good book or movie. For some in the world, no meal is complete without a glass of red or white wine. Wine however, can be a cause of allergic reactions in some individuals.
An allergy is caused by a trigger, usually harmless, which induces the body to see it as a threat, an overreaction in other words. Allergic reactions may include dizziness, lethargy, vertigo, headaches, rashes itchiness and shortness of breath. Stomach aches and difficulty in breathing can also be caused by allergic reactions.
Wine is fermented fruit juice, usually grapes. Grape itself is able to ferment without the addition of sweeteners and other substances, just yeast. Yeast acts as a converter, utilizing the sugar in grapes and turning it into alcohol. Wine also contains sulfites or sulfur dioxide. Sulfur dioxide is used as a preservative. The antioxidant and anti-bacterial properties of sulfur dioxide ensure that bottled wine retains its freshness. Sulfite is placed in wine to increase shelf life as well as to preserve the taste.
There are therefore several possible culprits if you develop allergic reactions when drinking wine; the fruit fermented alcohol, yeast and sulfite. To narrow it down, a series of steps can be followed to isolate the culprit.
Testing to see if alcohol is the trigger is quite difficult since most of the symptoms of wine allergy are also characteristic signs of a bad hangover. To see if alcohol is the trigger, imbibe liquor (distilled alcoholic beverage) and observe if any allergic reactions occur. Please do not get drunk as this will induce a hangover which will confuse the results. A reaction to liquor would mean that you are adversely affected by alcohol.
If liquor is not the culprit, the next step would be to see if yeast is. Drinking beer will test this hypothesis. Beer contains alcohol and grain-derived substances. If you suffer adverse reactions from drinking beer, consult a doctor as this may be a case of gluten sensitivity, if not, let us look at the other two suspects.
Testing for sulfite as a source of your wine allergic reaction is easy; just eat apricots. Apricots contain more sulfites than a glass of wine, thus if you can eat apricots with no adverse reactions, then the culprit probably the last suspect: the fruit itself.
To test this, obtain a fruit, get the juice and apply it to your skin. If redness occurs, then it’s positive that you are allergic for that particular fruit. If not however, try drinking the fruit juice. If it still did not give you an allergic reaction, then there must be some other culprit.
If the allergic reactions persist when you drink wine and after testing for the individual components by drinking liquor, beer, eating apricots and swabbing yourself with fruit juice, consult a doctor. It may be a combination of factors, or some other cause that a simple internet article cannot help you with.
Drinking wine is an integral part of some cultures and an enjoyable pastime in many. To develop an allergic reaction to wine would be less than pleasant. Watching your friends laughing and having a good time, enjoying the warm, fruity taste of wine while you sip that tepid glass of water can be very depressing. If you do exhibit symptoms of an allergic reaction when drinking wine, consult a doctor and be sure to explain why you think you had an allergic reaction and not a bad hangover. It is the details which you supply which may help the doctor determine the cause and the severity of the reaction and point you to which corticosteroid or anti-histamine to take. Unless of course you want to just stop drinking wine, an option which for many would be considered blasphemous.
References:
- J. Robinson (ed) 2006 The Oxford Companion to Wine Third Edition, pp. 355–356 Oxford University Press