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When wine becomes a headache
Gemaakt op vrijdag 08 januari 2010 14:38 | 
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Wine headaches are a common problem. One of the most frequent questions I am asked is, "What wines can I drink without getting a headache?"
I spoke with a friend who suffers from frequent wine headaches earlier this week. He is using a process of elimination to figure out which wines cause less suffering. His suspects it may be oak that is giving him problems. Possible, but there is no easy answer. I'm no doctor, but I have picked up a fair amount of information on this over the years that may help you solve any wine pain issues.
There is more than one type of headache, and much more than one cause. First, let's talk about migraines, normally marked by colourful, angular "blobs" blocking your vision, then partial vision loss before the actual headache.
I have suffered from migraines most of my life, and red wine is certainly a trigger, along with lack of sleep, low blood sugar, dramatic changes in barometric pressure, and caffeine (coffee and chocolate).
My solution is to always eat breakfast, snack before a late dinner and never eat trigger foods on an empty stomach. It's hard to control the weather, but I'm working on that.
I also found out that a lactose-free diet practically eliminated my migraines, but that is perhaps unrelated. Or is it? The human body is a complex machine of many interactions.
Another possible solution was to avoid wine, but that was not an option for me. What is it about wine that causes migraines? It is not known for sure, but one theory is that the polyphenolic tannins and anthocyanins from grape skins (which make wine tannic and give colour) cause migraines by increasing serotonin levels in the brain. There are also tannins in wood, so one could argue that oaked white wines should cause migraines too, but this is not a common complaint.
One way to avoid wine migraines may be simply to avoid red wine. If you are going to drink red, choose less tannic grape varietals, such as Gamay Noir (Beaujolais), Marechal Foch (the basic, unoaked version) and lighter Pinot Noir. Homemade red wines that don't use oak should be less likely to cause pain.
The classic red wine headache is not a migraine, but it is painful. People used to think it was a sulfite intolerance, but this has been proven false. Sulfite allergies are extremely rare.
These headaches have been generally attributed to histamines, which cause allergic reactions in many people. These are commonly found in wine in various forms. Histamines are in the skins of grapes so they end up in the wine, at higher levels for wines that have extensive skin contact, including reds, some ros