That some people get a headache after drinking a glass of red wine has a scientific explanation. The time it takes for these discomforts to appear varies depending on the person, but the cause could be the same: quercetin.
This is reflected in recent research published in the journal Scientific Reports by a team of scientists from the University of California. The authors of the work explain that this natural substance found in red wine can intervene in the metabolism of alcohol and cause this annoying pain.
When quercetin, a flavonoid found in various fruits and vegetables and given certain benefits, enters the bloodstream, the body converts it into a different form called quercetin glucuronide, explains Andrew Waterhouse, promoter of the study and professor emeritus at the University of California.
The result of this process is that the body can end up accumulating acetaldehyde, "an irritating and inflammatory toxin that in large quantities can cause facial flushing, headache and nausea," adds lead author Apramita Devi, a postdoctoral researcher at UC Davis.
A medication prescribed to alcoholics to prevent them from drinking causes similar effects, they explain. Known as disulfiram, this drug causes the toxin to accumulate in the body, because it disables the body's enzyme that is responsible for breaking it down.
40% of the East Asian population, they add, also has an enzyme that does not work very well, which causes this accumulation of acetaldehyde in the body.
The study has allowed them to observe that "when susceptible people consume wine with even modest amounts of quercetin, they suffer headaches, especially if they have migraines or other primary headache conditions."
“We believe that we are finally on the right path to explaining this ancient mystery. The next step will be to scientifically test it in people who develop these headaches,” they conclude.
In an article for the Comer channel, sommelier Ferran Centelles, a national and international reference, explained that the headache that some people suffer when drinking wine could also be due to the concentration of alcohol in the blood.
"Wine has other compounds that, when consumed in high concentrations, can be the origin of this discomfort, another of them are sulfites. The first quotes we find about this query date back to Ancient Rome, where Aulus Cornelius Celsus in his encyclopedia of Medicine , described certain headaches after drinking red wine," the expert said.
Another cause that, according to Centelles, could explain these pains is that "during winemaking, nitrogenous compounds called biogenic amines may appear. Formed by microorganisms associated with the different stages of production and storage, they affect health if their concentration is excessive. ".
The expert points out that numerous studies prove that this fact can happen at any time, "but it is in malolactic fermentation when its production is highest, a fact that can clarify because it happens mostly in red wines, which are frequently subjected to this so-called second fermentation in order to achieve volume, creaminess and pleasant lactic aromas".
Finally, Centelles refers to the main biogenic amines present in wine, such as histamine and tyramine, and acetaldehyde, a byproduct of alcohol oxidation. "These act on the brain, and can trigger migraines in patients suffering from this condition," he concludes.
