I believe parts of the argument are true I do think natural wine claims are a bit inflated. It’s always mentioned that 70 “ingredients” can be added to wine without be disclosed and you’ll hear this in the natural wine community that’s a big reason why people feel bad. Budget wines definitely have been manufactured, but if you’re buying decent quality wines this shouldn’t be an issue since a lot of things are illegal to do in the old world of wine making.
I think it’s worth looking into the idea of histamine intolerance as a part of this discussion. Red wines (made from grapes) have a higher level of histamines than whites, Champagne, or beer. Anecdotally, I have given blueberry wine to people that have problems with red wine, and they did not experience the same symptoms (headaches, nausea, feeling hungover, or digestive issues). Blueberries have anti-histamine properties according to some research.
From the National Library of Medicine: “The role of histamine in wine intolerance was evaluated by a red wine provocation test in 28 patients with a history of wine intolerance and in 10 controls with good tolerance of wine. Patients were challenged with 125 ml red wine (equivalent to 50 micrograms histamine); blood samples were drawn before and after 15 and 30 minutes. Plasma histamine was assessed by a radioimmunoassay. Lung function tests were performed before and after the wine test. Twenty-two of twenty-eight patients had symptoms showing significantly higher plasma histamine levels 30 minutes after wine challenge (p < .01) compared with asymptomatic controls. Basal histamine levels of patients were higher (p < .05) than in controls. A slight asthmatic attack as well as a 30% decrease of FEF 25 was seen in 2/22 patients. Terfenadine premedication significantly eliminated symptoms in 10/12 patients (p < .05) in a subsequent wine test. Histamine assessment was done in 52 wines (red, white, and champagne) and in 17 beers by radioimmunoassay. Histamine levels ranged from 3-120 micrograms/l in white wines; 15-670 micrograms/l in champagnes; 60-3800 micrograms/l in red wines; and 21-305 micrograms/l in beers. Histamine is causing wine intolerance. Patients intolerant to wine seem to have diminished histamine degradation probably based on a deficiency of diamine oxidase.”
Symptoms of histamine intolerance
Histamine is associated with common allergic responses and symptoms. Many of these are similar to those from a histamine intolerance.
While they may vary, some common reactions associated with this intolerance include:
headaches or migraines
nasal congestion or sinus issues
fatigue
hives
digestive issues
irregular menstrual cycle
nausea
vomiting
In more severe cases of histamine intolerance, you may experience:
abdominal cramping
tissue swelling
high blood pressure
irregular heart rate
anxiety
difficulty regulating body temperature
dizziness
Pepcid can help present histamine flush.
My GF gets stuffy nose after a glass of wine and experiences double vision if we split a bottle of champagne. I too experience easy nausea and vomiting even with very low amounts of beer. Wine seems to be a bit better.
Curious, what happens with white wine?
A lot of these issues are due to excess histamine; Pepcid is an h2 inhibitor so it can help prevent some of these side effects; it also helps with reflux.
For me? I can handle it a bit better. Red wine can sometimes make me feel randomly drunk, but having wine reps come in every week for sample has kind of curved the one red wine glass messing me up.
That’s informative. Just started getting hives from wine about a month and a half ago. Not fun. Tried zyrtec alone last night and it didn’t help when I had 4 total glasses of wine - or maybe decreased the hives a bit. Going to try zyrtec, claritin, and allegra, and see how the trifecta works…
That’s quite a line up!
Perhaps consider the Zyrtec with two Pepcid.
For hives, some people do very well combining an H1 and H2 blocker together.
Interesting, hadnt heard that. Thanks Anton!