Itching skin indicates wine intolerance

Wine Allergy: Many can not tolerate red wine

06/26/2012

A still relatively unknown food allergy is the wine intolerance. If there is an itchy rash and a stuffy nose after consuming wine, the symptoms may indicate a wine allergy. Scientists at the University of Mainz report this, citing a self-conducted study.

If the skin is red and itches, in addition the nose is tight, there may be a wine intolerance. These symptoms occur in people who have drunk one or more glasses of wine. In addition, they complain of headaches, sneezing and difficulty breathing.

According to researchers from the University of Mainz, the intolerance to wine occurs more frequently than previously thought. In order to find out how many people suffer from this particular intolerance, the AExperten undertook a survey study in Mainz. Of 948 randomly selected adult participants, 68 (7.2 percent) had allergic symptoms after drinking wine. Thus, this particular form of food intolerance occurs in much the same way as a pollen allergy, the researchers summarize in their study report. They cite a study on the distribution of hay fever and pollen allergy.

Rarely a true grape allergy
The scientists of Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, however, suspect that a wine allergy is only occasionally due to a true grape allergy. Subjects who said that they generally tolerated wine badly also suffered more often from allergic reactions after drinking beer or alcohol in general. In addition, there was a slight increase among women: around 8.9 percent of the female survey respondents said that they tolerated wine poorly or poorly. The same men gave to 5.2 percent. In addition, allergy symptoms were more common in red wine than white wine.

Ingredients and proteins suspected
In wine, the protein LPT is included, which is considered to cause other substances as causes. The protein is generally recognized as allergen in medicine and can only be detected in red wine. However, other substances contained in wine are also conceivable, which can lead to complaints. According to the researchers also ingredients such as sulfites or biogenic amines such as histamine or tyramine may play a role. Amines are small protein building blocks, so-called amino acids. The amines can be found in white wine in a slightly higher concentration than in red wine. Not to be excluded are also incompatibilities with alcohol. „For alcohol intolerances, there could be other causes“, so the research team.

For a long time amino acids were filtered out of the wine to eliminate turbidity. However, when the winegrowers discover that they have also removed delicious flavors, many winemakers left the proteins in the wine. The researchers now suspect that this also makes an increase in allergenic substances more explainable.

In order to explore the topic more intensively, further in-depth study work is required as the validity of the study is limited. In addition, according to the study director Professor Heinz Decker the wine allergy research „absolute new territory“. So far it was not known how often a wine intolerance occurs in the population. Of the 4000 questionnaires sent, only 948 returned. Among them were again only 800 adults who consumed alcoholic beverages during the last year. 726 participants said they would drink about 3.6 glasses of wine per week. 467 people said they also ate beer. Another 172 regularly drank high-proof products. (Sb)

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Picture: Anne Garti