A glass of red wine is never missing from the winter holiday table, but for some people a few sips of this drink is enough to cause a headache. But which "ingredient" of wine is responsible for the annoying effect?
A study from the University of California, Davis, tried to reconstruct the chemical steps behind red wine headaches, which also affect people who don't have problems drinking other alcoholic beverages. According to work published in Scientific Reports, it may be caused by a type of flavanol, a substance that is part of flavonoids, water-soluble plant compounds present in many foods, including grapes and therefore wine.
Flavonoids have their beneficial antioxidant effect, as they counteract the formation of oxygen radicals (highly reactive chemical substances) and limit cell and tissue damage. But when one of them, quercetin, is metabolized with alcohol, it can create problems.
"When it enters the bloodstream, the body converts it into another form called quercetin-glucuronide. In this form, it blocks the metabolism of alcohol", explains Andreë Waterhouse, a chemist at the University of California and one of the authors of the study.
In some people, the phenomenon can cause the accumulation of a toxin called acetaldehyde, an irritant and inflammatory, which at high levels is responsible for facial flushing, headaches and nausea. 40% of East Asian populations have, for genetic reasons, an enzymatic dysfunction that favors the accumulation of acetaldehyde and favors hangovers even after minimal amounts of alcohol.
The quercetin content of red wines may be high, but further studies will be needed into why some people are more sensitive to its action than others. The next step will be to test the hypothesis in consumers, offering red wine headache sufferers a range of wines with a relatively high quercetin content to see what effect it has. (A2 Televizion)
