New anti-allergenic wines may be on the horizon

(fred goldstein)

Does a nice Bordeaux leave with you a headache, stuffy nose, skin rash, or other miserable ailment? While allergies to sulfites are well documented, scientist have only just now identified what else in wine triggers allergies.

For eight percent of people worldwide, a glass of wine can produce a range of allergy symptoms. While allergies to sulfites account for only one percent, scientists didn't know what triggers reactions in the remaining seven percent.

Announced in a November 17 press release, scientists have identified a mysterious culprit that can set off allergies - glycoproteins, or proteins coated with sugars produced naturally as grapes ferment. Researchers in Denmark hope their discovery could help winemakers in developing the first low allergenic vintages - reds and whites with less potential to trigger allergy symptoms.

Giuseppe Palmisano, study author and postdoc in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Campusvej in Odense, Denmark, told Relaxnews that he is currently collaborating with "an institute that produces wine in different oenological conditions" as well as a private wine company to develop new anti-allergenic wines in the future. Meanwhile he is hoping the word will spread to other winemakers.

The new study appears in the monthly science journal Journal of Proteome Research.

To access the study: http://pubs.acs.org/stoken/presspac/presspac/full/10.1021/pr100298j