The reason why drinking red wine can leave some people with a banging head has been discovered by scientists.
Researchers have found that a natural flavonol compound in red wines can interfere with the metabolism of alcohol which leads to a headache.
The University of California team in Davis say it’s all about quercetin, which is naturally present in many fruits and vegetables, including grapes. It’s a healthy antioxidant that is even available in supplement form—but when mixed with alcohol, it can be problematic.
“When it gets in your bloodstream, your body converts it to a different form called quercetin glucuronide,” said Professor Andrew Waterhouse. “In that form, it blocks the metabolism of alcohol.”
They also report, in the study published in the journal Scientific Reports that different wines had different amounts of the pain-inducing flavanol depending on how much sunlight the grapes absorbed.
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“Quercetin is produced by the grapes in response to sunlight. If you grow grapes with the clusters exposed, such as they do in the Napa Valley for their cabernets, you get much higher levels of quercetin,” Prof. Waterhouse explained.
“In some cases, it can be four to five times higher.”
As a result of consuming this flavanol-filled wine people can accumulate a toxin called acetaldehyde which causes the painful symptom.
“Acetaldehyde is a well-known toxin, irritant, and inflammatory substance,” said Dr. Apramita Devi. “Researchers know that high levels of acetaldehyde can cause facial flushing, headache and nausea.”
Typically, a red wine headache can occur within 30 minutes to three hours after drinking as little as one glass.
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“We postulate that when susceptible people consume wine with even modest amounts of quercetin, they develop headaches, particularly if they have a preexisting migraine or another primary headache condition,” said Professor Morris Levin, explaining the millennia-old mystery.
The team plans to conduct human clinical trials to get further answers as it’s still unclear why some people seem more susceptible to them than others.
“The next step is to test it scientifically on people who develop these headaches, so stay tuned.”
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Researchers don’t know if the enzymes of people who suffer from red wine headaches are more easily inhibited by quercetin or if they are just more easily affected by the buildup of the toxin acetaldehyde.
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