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Guelph food science researchers hope their studies will mean no more headaches for sensitive wine drinkers
BY ANDREW VOWLES
Do you get a headache from drinking even a moderate amount of wine? If a recent U of G research project helps solve part of the problem, clear-headed consumers of Ontario vintages may one day want to raise a glass to Prof. Ramón Mira de Orduña, Food Science, and master's student Amélie Dubé Morneau.
Some four in 10 people get headaches or suffer allergic reactions from drinking wine, even in moderate amounts, says Mira de Orduña. As research leader of the “Wine Cellar”— the unofficial name of the department's wine microbiology lab — he's happy to report that he's not among those sufferers.
Still, he hopes his research will reduce amounts of certain compounds contained in wines, enabling others to enjoy the social and health benefits of moderate wine drinking.
“If 40 per cent of people would like to drink wine but get headaches because of this, that's a pity.”
Part of the problem stems from a kind of double whammy triggered by acetaldehyde, a byproduct of yeast fermentation. It contributes to red wine's colour but creates an aroma that's undesirable in most table wines (a notable exception is sherry, whose characteristic odour comes from the substance).
Most wineries mask the aroma by using sulphur dioxide to bind up acetaldehyde. But that means less sulphur dioxide remains available in the wine as an antimicrobial and antioxidant agent. Wineries can top up sulphur dioxide, but it may cause adverse effects — notably headaches and allergic reactions — in sensitive consumers.
Before suggesting ways for wineries to get around that catch-22, Mira de Orduña needed to learn how much of these compounds already existed in their vintages, information that hadn't been readily available.
The Guelph researchers tested 100 wines provided by 17 wineries in the Niagara Peninsula.
Typically, red wines contain an average of 20 milligrams of acetaldehyde per litre, and whites have about twice that amount. But amounts of the substance varied tenfold among different vintages. Although most of the wines in the survey were below the white-wine average, several were higher, and one contained 110 mg of acetaldehyde per litre.
(In reports provided individually to the wineries, each company's vintages were identified, but the others were ranked anonymously. The lowest amount of acetaldehyde came from an organically produced vintage made by Ontario's only organic winery, located near Niagara-on- the-Lake.)
Mira de Orduña says wineries can reduce acetaldehyde by adding wine lactic acid bacteria. That would allow them to use less sulphur dioxide, perhaps by enough to make a difference to sensitive consumers.
“We think there's some room to reduce sulphur dioxide levels,” he says.
The researchers have a paper in press about the project. Morneau is incorporating the results into her master's thesis for this spring. Her supervisor plans to study biogenic amines, another class of compounds in wine that also have adverse effects on some people.
