A migraine each time you have a night out should be a good reason to abstain. After a night on the town, it’s easy to blame a headache on too much alcohol. But if you’re prone to migraine headaches, drinking even a small amount of alcohol can bring on an attack.

What’s next in the study of red wine headaches

So, was something unique in red wine slowing down that second metabolic step, leading to headaches? In the list of phenolics abundant in red wine, they found quercetin to be a good inhibitor of ALDH. It’s much more abundant in red than white wines because red grape skins are left longer during fermentation than white grape skins. We spied a paper showing that quercetin is a good inhibitor of ALDH. Quercetin is a phenolic compound found in the skins of grapes, so it’s much more abundant in red than white wines because red grape skins are left in longer during the fermentation process than white grape skins. Sulfites, biogenic amines and tannin have been popular scapegoats for headaches caused by red wine.

The headache culprit: Quercetin, a flavanol

Interestingly, quercetin is considered a healthy antioxidant, and is even available in supplement form, but investigators found that when metabolized with alcohol, it can be problematic. When mixed with alcohol, a health-promoting antioxidant may have toxic effects in some people. The Substance abuse medical experts caution against attempts to “build up” a higher wine tolerance. “It only means you will have to drink more and more wine to feel good.

• This discovery points to what’s known as a secondary, or synergistic, effect.
• In addition, women are more susceptible to headaches from wine.
• Experimenting with different types of wines may help you isolate those that tend to trigger a headache from those you can savor.
• Quercetin is a flavanol, a subclass of flavonoids, which are chemical compounds naturally present in all kinds of fruits and vegetables, including grapes.
• Historically, it has been believed that red wine also contains higher levels of histamines and tannins compared to white wine, which some people can be sensitive to, Stolte said.

How to cure red wine headaches the next day

The researchers tested whether quercetin slowed the process of ALDH breaking down acetaldehyde, along with some other phenolics. Per the study, when we absorb quercetin from food or wine, most of it gets converted to glucuronide by the liver to eliminate it quickly. However, quercetin glucuronide disrupts your body’s metabolism of alcohol. This disruption means extra acetaldehyde circulates, causing inflammation and headaches.

But for some people, drinking red wine even in small amounts causes a headache. Typically, a “red wine headache” can occur within 30 minutes to three hours after drinking as little as a small glass of wine. To determine whether quercetin is to blame, future research should involve people trying red wines with varying amounts of quercetin, Waterhouse said. If they’re more likely to develop a headache after drinking wines high in quercetin, that could be a sign that quercetin is to blame.

• Often, patients can drink spirits or beer without any effect, so it’s more than just the alcohol content in wine that causes migraines.
• Please note the date of last review or update on all articles.
• Experts do know more than one in three people with East Asian heritage are intolerant of any type of alcohol – beer, wine and spirits – and will experience facial flushing, headaches and nausea when they drink.
• Among alcoholic beverages, wine has quite the reputation as a headache trigger, particularly red wine.

Tannin is also found in many other common products, such as tea and chocolate, which generally don’t cause headaches. And phenolics are good antioxidants – they’re unlikely to trigger the inflammation that would cause a headache. Wines are made with a variety of grapes, preservatives, and other ingredients, so keep track as you go. Choose high quality wines and only drink a small amount until you’re sure how that wine affects you. But even among those who identify red wine as a trigger, it doesn’t hold true every time. It’s likely that migraine attacks involve several contributing factors.

And that meant more expensive red wines, rather than cheap reds, would be worse for headache-prone people, one of the researchers, Prof Andrew Waterhouse, told BBC News. White wine is made without why does wine cause migraines the grape skin, so it has a lower histamine content than red wine, which is made from the whole grape. A histamine sensitivity could make you more susceptible to a headache. Alcohol’s exact role in triggering a migraine isn’t fully known. For instance, alcohol byproducts called congeners have been linked to headaches. Dark-colored alcohols like red wine, brandy, and whiskey may contain more of them.

Recent Articles

If you’re sensitive to sulfites, you’re more likely to experience breathing problems than headaches, though. To help answer the question of why red wines can cause headaches, researchers took to the laboratory to analyze how the antioxidant known as quercetin may play a role. Quercetin is a flavanol, a subclass of flavonoids, which are chemical compounds naturally present in all kinds of fruits and vegetables, including grapes. Flavonoids have many heart and brain health benefits, according to the American Heart Association.

More on Migraine & Headaches

White wines also contain the same amount of sulfites as red wines. So, if quercetin causes headaches, are there red wines without it? Unfortunately, the data available on specific wines is far too limited to provide any helpful advice. However, grapes exposed to the Sun do produce more quercetin, and many inexpensive red wines are made from grapes that see less sunlight. A red wine may pair nicely with the upcoming Thanksgiving https://ecosoberhouse.com/ meal.

How the stigma of migraine might hurt your health

Specifically, quercetin changes form when it’s metabolized with alcohol. Drinking a lot, quickly, or drinking to get drunk can have serious consequences for short- and long-term health. Be sure to see your doctor if your wine headache is sudden, severe, or is accompanied by other symptoms you haven’t had before. There are many theories, but no clear evidence as to why wine gives some people a headache.