It's commonly but mistakenly believed that sulfites are a common source of health problems. In fact, sulfites cause NO problems whatsoever for the vast, vast majority of people. One in ten thousand people, every single one of which is a severe asthmatic, cannot metabolize sulfites. If you do not have severe asthma (and by severe I mean you're under a doctor's care specifically for asthma and have to use a nebulizer on a daily basis),jit's physically impossible for you to have this problem.
Some on this newsgroup have claimed that tannins in general are the cause of most headache-like reactions to wine. I think this is also incorrect. Physicians have known for over 50 years that a protein called tryptamine, commonly found in aged cheese, chocolate, red wine, and other foods, is an extremely common trigger for migraines and other forms of severe headache. Tryptamine is a natural byproduct of aging and cannot be removed from the wine. This is why migraine sufferers can often drink new wines and white wines, but one glbutt of red wine will put them in bed for 24 hours or longer.
A less common problem but one that can be life-threatening is the use of food products in clarifying or flavouring wine. Isinglbutt contains fish proteins, egg whites egg proteins, and chitosan seafood proteins. People with severe allergies to these foods can go into anaphylactic shock from consuming wine made with these fining agents. If wine is fortified with Amaretto or Frangelico, those with nut allergies can have severe reactions. I once ended up in hospital for a couple of days after having a drink containing amaretto.
wd41
