Natural wine more likely to give drinkers a hangover

The myth that natural wines can prevent hangovers has been shown not only to be wrong, but natural wine are MORE likely to leave drinkers with a hangover.

While some natural wine drinkers and producers claim their wines do not give hangovers, this has been based on a lack of research. Recent findings in a new Master of Wine research paper suggest that they may actually be more likely to give headaches.

The belief was that the lack of Sulfur dioxide added in the production process of natural wines meant those who suffered from acute sulfite-sensitive asthma would not get head aches. However with less than 1% of the population suffering from acute sulfite-sensitive asthma very few people would benefit.

The research paper by Sophie Parker-Thomson MW states that a far greater population is known to be sensitive to biogenic amines (BA), which are also naturally present in many wines. It found that adding 30mg per litre of SO2 before fermentation greatly lowers levels of biogenic amines.

The paper concludes that natural wines may be a cause of higher hangovers associated with the lack of SO2.