You have already realized that after drinking red wine for an entire evening, the hours that follow can be much more complicated than after drinking any other alcohol. In fact, drinking red wine very often gives you a headache, a fact that scientists have looked into in order to explain the phenomenon. We tell you everything!
You probably know what we’re talking about if you’re used to drinking alcohol, especially red wine. In fact, you must have already noticed that post-party drinking with red wine is much more difficult than drinking with other alcohols, even if you drink less! If part of it is actually explained by the presence of sulphites and tannins in red wine which is very often responsible for impressive headaches, a new study carried out by researchers at the University of California has highlighted another component red wine: quercetin, a natural antioxidant.
It was during this study that scientists evaluated more than a dozen compounds in red wine in order to understand where these pains could come from, which represent a ” millennial mystery » as indicated by the director of the Headache Center at the University of California, Morris Levin. The results of this study were published in the journal Scientific Report and show the very clear presence of quercitrin in the skin and seeds of grapes. But how can this antioxidant be the cause of these headaches?
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The consequences of quercitrin
According to the researchers who participated in this study, even if quercitrin is generally considered beneficial for health in this case and associated with alcohol a chemical process results causing the creation of quercetin-glucoronide which can be toxic to the body. The magazine Newsweekexplain : “Our bodies are normally able to metabolize alcohol in two steps: ethanol is first converted to acetaldehyde, which is then broken down into acetate, used to produce energy, carbon dioxide and water. However, in the presence of quercetin-glucoronide, this second step cannot take place, which leads to an increase in acetaldehyde “. It is therefore the accumulation of this acetaldehyde in the blood which will then cause nausea, migraines, but also redness on the face of certain drinkers.
The researchers also highlighted that the grapes being more exposed to the sun contain more quercitrin than the others, certain references from the South can even contain five times more as explained in the article published in theScientific Report.
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But why do some people suffer more than others?
It is the director of the study, Morris Levin who provides more clarification on the next stages of these tests: “The next step is to carry out scientific tests on people who develop these headaches“. Indeed, some people will be more prone to migraines after drinking red wine than others, a fact that researchers are still trying to explain today, not really knowing where this inequality comes from. Although a first avenue evaluating the sensitivity to acetaldehyde of red wine drinkers is mentioned, it has not yet been analyzed.
For other studies such as that ofEuropean Journal of Clinical Nutritionpublished in 2019, headaches after drinking red wine could also arise from an allergic reaction to sulfites. But this theory would therefore be valid for all wines and not just red wine since sulphites are used to stabilize the wine and prevent its fermentation during winemaking. So while waiting for the rest and checking if the results of the study by researchers at the University of California are correct, if you do not want to feel a severe hangover after drinking red wine, we do not exceed two glasses per day and we compensate with lots of water!
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