Avoiding Red Wine Headaches by Ralph de Amicis
This is an excerpt from our upcoming book; The Wine Diet, It’s not just for breakfast anymore, and other helpful insights. From www.YourDayInWineCountry.com
Here are some insights that have come to me through being the odd combination of a winery tour guide/driver, an herbalist and naturopathic physician. From what I can tell from observing clients as I drive them around Napa and Sonoma, and watch them become increasingly inebriated, dehydration is the single biggest reason for red wine headaches. Because many of the red wines we drink in Napa and Sonoma are relatively young, and hot (high alcohol), the combination of phenols (a component of tannins) and alcohol dries out the brain, causing headaches.
Since most people are chronically dehydrated it does not take much to push them over the edge. I tell my clients to drink between two to four ounces of water for every ounce of wine and they won’t get a headache. Many people who have chronic problems with red wine will taste wine all day without a headache, or excessive inebriation. It has to do with diluting the alcohol and spreading it throughout the bloodstream, so even your feet feel good and you head feels light.
Most people don't realize that 80 to 90 percent of general headaches can be relieved simply by drinking ten ounces of water. One of the symptoms of dehydration from alcohol is that the head feels heavy. That is due to a lack of hydraulic pressure. The body depends on having enough liquid filling the tissues of the neck and head to keep them upright. Reduce that pressure in the muscles and the head droops.
A second reason for headaches is the fact that the body processes alcohol as the sugar that it once was. What many people suffer from when drinking are hyperglycemia (hyper = too much) headaches, too much sugar in the blood stream. Drinking with food slows down the absorption rate and prevents that from happening. The best food for extending your tasting endurance is fat and protein since alcohol is a great solvent for these great energy sources.
In the process of releasing the energy the alcohol is consumed. The other side of that coin is hypoglycemic headaches and tiredness, from the sudden drop in blood sugar level after the alcohol is consumed too quickly. Once again, combining the wine with food, protein and fat (but not too much milk-sugar rich cheese) is the solution.
A third red wine problem is rashes, and this is often an acid reaction. Many people are excessively acidic and the acid of the juice and alcohol is more than their system can bear, so the body throws the alcohol out the nearest doorway, namely the skin. Taking some type of calcium carbonate tablet in the course of enjoying the red wine should provide instant relief, although a concerted program to increase the consumption of alkaline mineral in the diet is recommended.
Another reason for rashes is a lack of essential fatty acids. In the societies with the greatest wine consumption, France and Italy, the diets are high in good quality, fresh fats. Those fats coat the cells and tissues and protect them from the acids (malic and citric) in the grapes. In fact, one of the great things about wine is that it breaks down old fats, so that they can be replaced with new fats. One of the more toxic materials to the body is rancid fat. Alcohol dissolves them. Eating more nuts, especially walnuts, and olive oil will help replenish those stores.
The above pretty much addresses high quality wines, but what about cheap wines? That is a whole other case! The worst headaches and hangovers come from bad wine making; yeast that runs out of steam producing weird alcohols in the process, the excessive use of added yeast and sulfites to overcome poor grape quality, the inclusion of histamine stimulating plant debris (MOG= material other than grapes) all contribute to that problem. So, the lesson is; don’t drink cheap wines unless you know where the grapes come from. There are more tips in our book The Amicis Winery Guides: Dream Tours of Napa & Sonoma, that you can find at www.yourdayinwinecountry.com.
Ralph de Amicis from Amicis Tours is a guide in Napa and Sonoma and author of Your Day in Wine Country, and the Amicis Winery Guides: Dream Tours of Napa & Sonoma.
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