It’s the season of allergies. If you are currently sniveling and sneezing, trying to get through the day, it might be a good idea to abstain from wine and other alcoholic beverages, according to scientific research. The problem lies not so much with the alcohol, but with the amount of histamine in your favorite beverage. Histamine is the chemical that puts in motion allergic reactions. We can control it with medications called antihistamines. Some alcoholic drinks contain more histamines than others. This applies not only to certain types of wine but also to heavier tasting beers. Sulfites can also cause allergic reactions and even that is found in beer and wine. Histamines are also found in certain foods such as aged cheeses, fermented foods and bread, cider and grapes. If you need a drink, take an antihistamine pill a few hours before you start… it will do wonders …
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P Bendtsen e.a., “Alcohol consumption and the risk of self-reported perennial and seasonal allergic rhinitis in young adult women in a population-based cohort study,” Clinical and Experimental Allergy: Journal of the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology 38, no. 7 (Juli 2008): 1179-1185.