Wine and Health

We have been asked to comment on wine and health. "Which is the best for your health, white or red wine?"

There have been many studies of wine and health. All come to the same conclusion. 1-2 glasses of wine (8-16 oz.) of wine a day can be a good part of a healthy diet. When over 16 oz. is consumed the positive effects deteriorate quickly. There are over 2500 compounds in wine. They include antioxidants, histamines, tannins, phenols, resveratrol, and of course alcohol. All of these have differing impact on the cardiovascular system, blood vessels and some work as anti-cancer agents.

Now as to which is best for you, one must say that the red wines are made in a way that extracts most of these compound that are found in the skin of the grape through the fermentation process. As red wines are fermented with the skins present and the white wines are often not, therefore, red wines are probably better for you in the long run.

Sulfites in Wine

We have received the question if it is sulfites in wine "that cause me to have headaches?"
The answer is most probably not. Sulfites are put into wine in very small amounts (measured in parts per million) to prevent spoilage. More often headaches are cause by another compound found naturally in the skin of grapes, histamines. This causes the expantion of blood vessels that can lead to headaches in some people who are sensetive to histimines.