Allergies to Wine and Wat can Cause them. Articles | Benefits of Wine

By: Michael Kirby

Wine is a very popular beverage that millions of people consume on a regular basis. However, there are individuals that have wine allergies that prevent them from enjoying this fine beverage. Being allergic to wine is less common than having food allergies but it is a real problem for those that do. The people that are affected by these allergies can have very mild or really severe symptoms.

It is possible to be allergic to wine and not even know that you are because of the symptoms you may experience. For instance, you may feel queasy after you drink a glass of wine or you may end up with a rash. If you don’t have these symptoms right away you may not make the connection between the two. Other symptoms can include itchy eyes, headaches or hives and it is even possible for wine to bring about an asthma attack. If a person has other allergies that produce these same symptoms such as hay fever or acute asthma they may not realize that the wine is making them worse.

It is hard to say exactly what causes people to have allergies to wine. There are a lot of different ingredients that go into the making of wine so knowing which one the person is actually allergic to can be difficult. You have additives used in the process of making the wine and then others that are used to preserve them. A few of the ingredients found in wines are corn, grapes, molds, eggs, sulfites and brewers yeast.

Red wine seems to be the worse when it comes to allergies. This is probably because these contain more ingredients than white wines such as histamines that can cause sneezing and itchy watery eyes. Sulphur dioxide is a natural element found in wine and added to wines to help prevent organisms from growing. It also slows the growth of yeast which prevents the wine from turning into vinegar.

If you know which ingredient in the wine you are allergic to, then it may be possible to find a wine that you can drink. Taking a “skin-prick test” is the best way to determine what you are allergic to. If this test does not reveal an allergy to any of the ingredients found in wine, then you may not have an allergy but a wine intolerance instead. Fortunately, there is an option for those people that do have wine allergies. Organic wines are becoming more common and very popular all the time so you can consider trying out one of these.