For some people, headaches are a common occurrence when drinking wine, but why does this happen? We’re here to help you understand why!

Sulphites are used in all kinds of food production to help maintain food colour, increase shelf-life and prevent growth of fungi and bacteria.

In wine production, sulphites are added to protect the wine from bacterial issues and oxidation, think of an apple being cut and left for 5 minutes, oxidation makes it go brown. Sulphites are used in parts per million or can round it up to milligrams per litre. White wine uses up to 0.8 milligrams of Sulphites (SO2) per litre and red wine is lower around the 0.05mg/l range. In comparison, something like plain beef sausages is around 500mg/kg SO2, over 600 times the amount used in wine, or cordial with 20mg/l SO2, more than 25 times the amount.

Sulphites can cause allergic reactions to people who are sensitive. However, sulphites may not be the only reason for a wine drinker's headache. “Histamine that occurs naturally in wine and many other foods like eggs, meats and vegetables can actually induce headaches in people that suffer from histamine intolerances” – the kicker is that alcohol inhibits the body's knowledge of it. “The amount of histamine concentration in Australian wines surveyed by AWRI 03-09 was 1.75mg/l for red wines and 0.59mg/l for white – that amount is around one-tenth of that found in other foodstuffs associated with physiological responses.” So the dreaded wine headache is actually a combination of other histamine containing foods such as spinach, cheese and tomato along with your lovely glass of wine. 

Ref – Australian Wine Research Institute, Dr Creina Stockley Good weekend magazine, alcohol-histamine interactions S M Zimatkin, O V Anichtchik

Alcohol and Alcoholism, Volume 34, Issue 2, March 1999, Pages 141–147, https://doi.org/10.1093/alcalc/34.2.141

Histamine and histamine intolerance S M Zimatkin, O V Anichtchik

Alcohol and Alcoholism, Volume 34, Issue 2, March 1999, Pages 141–147, https://doi.org/10.1093/alcalc/34.2.141