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No-Fuss Guide · No. 21

Why does wine give you a headache? What science knows, and what's still a hypothesis

Nobody knows for sure. The most famous culprit, sulfites, explains it poorly: red, which gets the blame, has fewer sulfites than white. The newest suspect is quercetin from the grape skin, so far only in the lab. What's known about hangovers is the simplest part: alcohol makes you urinate more, mild dehydration helps bring on a headache, and the more alcohol, the worse. A headache that keeps coming back is a conversation for your doctor.

Sulfites? Almost certainly not

Sulfites are the preservative in almost every wine. A confirmed reaction to them shows up in 3% to 10% of people with asthma and is extremely rare in people without it; and the typical reaction is respiratory, not a headache (the US alcohol institute, the NIAAA, notes that a sensitive person may get a headache too). The argument that knocks down the reputation: red has fewer sulfites than white. In the 2021 Australian database, the average was 61.6 mg/L in reds and 108.4 mg/L in whites and rosés. And dried fruit carries far more: in Europe, dried apricots and raisins can have up to 2,000 mg/kg, more than ten times the international ceiling for a dry red (150 mg/L, per the OIV). The sulfite warning on the label (mandatory in the United States from 10 mg/L) is there for people who are sensitive; it's not an alarm.

Histamine? The tests say no

In a double-blind test with 16 people who said they were intolerant to wine, a wine high in histamine caused no more reaction than one with almost none. And a review of the studies on food amines (histamine, tyramine) found four conclusive studies, all of them negative.

Quercetin: the new suspect

In 2023, researchers at the University of California, Davis showed, in a test tube, that the form of quercetin that circulates in the blood blocks an enzyme that clears acetaldehyde, a by-product of alcohol. The hypothesis: acetaldehyde builds up and brings on flushing, headache and nausea, 30 minutes to 3 hours later. Quercetin comes from the grape skin and varies a lot: bunches grown in the sun can have four to five times more. The authors themselves say it still needs testing in people, and the human trial announced in 2023 still had no published results as of October 2026. The study's own author, speaking to McGill University, offers the counterpoint: onions are rich in quercetin and nobody gets a headache from eating onions; under the hypothesis, quercetin and alcohol have to be there together.

Migraine and red wine

In a small 1988 trial, published in The Lancet, with migraine patients who already blamed red wine, it triggered an attack in 9 of 11; vodka with the same amount of alcohol, served blind, in none of 8. In the other migraine patients, neither drink triggered an attack. In a 2019 Dutch study of 2,197 patients, a third named alcohol as a trigger, and of those, nearly 8 in 10 listed red wine among the drinks that set off an attack; but red wine triggered an attack every time in only 8.8%. The authors think alcohol adds to other factors rather than acting alone. And a 2025 review found no conclusive link between drinking wine and having migraines. If wine seems to set off your migraine, note down when it happens and take it to your doctor: they're the one who can help tell a real trigger from coincidence.

And hangovers, which are something else

Alcohol suppresses the hormone that holds water in the body and makes you urinate more: mild dehydration contributes to thirst, tiredness and headache, says the NIAAA, along with poor sleep and an irritated stomach. There's no proven cure; time sorts it out, and what weighs most is the total amount of alcohol, not the order of the drinks. The compounds that come along with the alcohol (darker drinks have more) weigh a little: in one test, bourbon gave a worse hangover than vodka. The practical advice from an NHS service, England's public health system: don't drink on an empty stomach, alternate with water or non-fizzy soft drinks (fizz speeds up alcohol absorption) and drink about 500 ml of water before bed.