The Sulfite Reaction

I've heard it from a lot of people. They can't drink wine, and particularly red wine because of the sulfites. They are allergic to sulfites. For an occasional person, this is the case. For most, I say balderdash, bullhockey, poppycock, malarkey. It's just not true for most people.

How do I know? Well, I can't be sure. But, you see, wine is not the only product that people ingest that has sulfites. In fact, it's not the only product that you ingest that has sulfites, and in some cases far more sulfites than wines, added as a preservative, i.e, the same purpose as in wine.

I don't want to name names as this could be embarrassing for them, but I know of several people that make this claim as to why they can't drink wine, particularly red wine, and by the way, sulfites are not usually used more in red wine than in white wine, eating loads and loads of bagged salad.

I know. You think I've lost my mind. This is not a blog about salad. But wait, bagged salad can exist as a viable product because preservatives are added. And, what preservatives do you think they are? Yes, sulfites. Lots of sulfites. More sulfites in more concentration typically than in wine, even red wine, which by the way likely has about the same sulfite concentration as white wine.

So, why the sulfite panic? Way back in the closing days of the Bush (41) Administration in January of 1993, the Food and Drug Administration wrote regulations under Title 21, Part 130 (yes, I had to look that up) of the US Code. They promulgated that any product containing at least 10 parts per million of sulfites had to have the sulfite warning clearly on the label. 

Now, there aren't a whole lot of words on a wine label. And, the label itself is not typically obscured by the various colors of bagged salad or the other larger words on the bag. The sulfite warning is prominent enough that you just see it if you read the label. And, people seeing that decided that it must be sulfites that cuased headaches or even sulfite-induced astham attacks. It was a Facebook meme before there was Facebook and before the word meme entered the lexicon.

With regard to sulfites, can you eat dried apricots without having an asthma attack? If so, it's not the sulfites.

But, people having this complaint have it far more fequently when drinking red wine than white. What does red wine have that white wine doesn't? Or, at least, what does red wine have more of than white wine does? Tannins. So do many nuts. Do you get nut-induced asthma? 

Histamines. Red wines typically contain between about 1/2 to 4 grams of histamine per liter. White wines rarely contain more than about 0.2 grams of histamine per liter. And, people are affected by histamines. 

How do I know? They sneeze when they are outside in the spring and the fall, particularly if they are around lots of flowers, grasses, and trees. It's a reaction to histamines. Some people are far more susceptible to histamines than others.

Try an experiment if you want to see, but consult a physician first to see if this is okay. UNDERSTAND THAT I AM NOT GIVING MEDICAL ADVICE HERE AND THAT THERE COULD BE OTHER REACTIONS HERE, SO DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK. 

You are probably familiar with antihistamines.Allegra, Benadryl, Claritin, Tavist, Zyrtec (listed some alphabetically). You might even take one periodically or more frequently for hay fever. And, most of them are available in "non-drowsy" formulations. Take a small amount of antihistamine before drinking enough red wine that it would normally give you an adverse reaction. If the reaction does not occur, you probably have histamine sensitivity. See your allergist to learn what you can do about it.