Wednesday, December 29, 2010

WINE ALLERGY


Wine Report

If wine makes you suffer from headaches, stuffy nose, skin rash or other allergic symptoms, scientists may have found out why.

The American Chemical Society's Journal of Proteome Research reports that it appears glycoproteins may be at fault.  Glycoproteins are proteins covered with sugars that are produced naturally as grapes ferment.  Researchers found these glycoproteins had a structure similar to many known allergens, like the kind that cause reactions to ragweed and latex.

This discovery could lead to new methods in the winemaking process which would minimize the formation of glycoproteins and allow winemakers to offer hypo-allergenic red and white wines.

Wine allergies are said to affect about eight percent of the population - 500 million people worldwide - but only about one percent are blamed on sulfites, which are added to wine as a preservative.  The other seven percent have been a mystery - until now, according to the researchers.

It may be a while before this discovery helps people who are intolerant to wine, but at least you now know someone's working on it.

No comments:

Post a Comment