Why do some people get headaches from drinking red wine?

A red wine may pair nicely with the upcoming Thanksgiving meal. But for some people, drinking red wine even in small amounts causes a headache. Typically, a “red wine headache” can occur within 30 minutes to three hours after drinking as little as a small glass of wine.

What in wine causes headaches?

In a new study, scientists at the University of California, Davis, examined why this happens – even to people who don’t get headaches when drinking small amounts of other alcoholic beverages. Researchers think that a flavanol found naturally in red wines can interfere with the proper metabolism of alcohol and can lead to a headache. The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports.

The headache culprit: Quercetin, a flavanol

This flavanol is called quercetin and it is naturally present in all kinds of fruits and vegetables, including grapes. It’s considered a healthy antioxidant and is even available in supplement form. But when metabolized with alcohol, it can be problematic.

“When it gets in your bloodstream, your body converts it to a different form called quercetin glucuronide,” said wine chemist and corresponding author Andrew Waterhouse, professor emeritus with the UC Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology. “In that form, it blocks the metabolism of alcohol.”

Acetaldehyde toxin buildup leads to flushing, headache, nausea

As a result, people can end up accumulating the toxin acetaldehyde, explains lead author Apramita Devi, postdoctoral researcher with the UC Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology.

“Acetaldehyde is a well-known toxin, irritant and inflammatory substance,” said Devi. “Researchers know that high levels of acetaldehyde can cause facial flushing, headache and nausea.”

The medication disulfiram prescribed to alcoholics to prevent them from drinking causes these same symptoms. Waterhouse said that’s because the drug also causes the toxin to build up in the body when normally an enzyme in the body would break it down. About 40% of the East Asian population also has an enzyme that doesn’t work very well, allowing acetaldehyde to build up in their system.

“We postulate that when susceptible people consume wine with even modest amounts of quercetin, they develop headaches, particularly if they have a preexisting migraine or another primary headache condition,” said co-author Morris Levin, professor of neurology and director of the Headache Center at the University of California, San Francisco. “We think we are finally on the right track toward explaining this millennia-old mystery.  The next step is to test it scientifically on people who develop these headaches, so stay tuned.”

Sunlight increases headache-causing flavanol in grapes

Waterhouse said levels of this flavanol can vary dramatically in red wine.

“Quercetin is produced by the grapes in response to sunlight,” Waterhouse said. “If you grow grapes with the clusters exposed, such as they do in the Napa Valley for their cabernets, you get much higher levels of quercetin. In some cases, it can be four to five times higher.”

Levels of quercetin can also differ depending on how the wine is made, including skin contact during fermentation, fining processes and aging.

Clinical trial on wine headaches

Scientists will next compare red wines that contain a lot of quercetin with those that have very little to test their theory about red wine headaches on people. This small human clinical trial, funded by the Wine Spectator Scholarship Foundation, will be led by UCSF.

Researchers said there are still many unknowns about the causes of red wine headaches. It’s unclear why some people seem more susceptible to them than others. Researchers don’t know if the enzymes of people who suffer from red wine headaches are more easily inhibited by quercetin or if this population is just more easily affected by the buildup of the toxin acetaldehyde.

“If our hypothesis pans out, then we will have the tools to start addressing these important questions,” Waterhouse said.

Poor nutrition contributes to depression, anxiety and risk of diabetes

 

People with diabetes (Diabetes Mellitus) are two-to-three times more likely to have depression than people without, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Current treatment includes therapy, medicine, or both. However, the understanding of the multifaceted relationship between nutrition, mental health, and DM is relatively new in scientific discourse. Mason researchers sought to learn about the connection between nutrition, diabetes, and mental health. 

Two literature reviews from assistant professor Raedeh Basiri show that poor nutrition plays a dual role, contributing to both the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and impacting mental health, including anxiety and depression. According to the findings, mental disorders, such as depression and anxiety, increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, and diabetes is also linked with an increased risk of developing depression and anxiety. Nutrition interventions can aid in both of these health issues. 

“Our findings underscore the pivotal role of dietary choices in reducing the risks associated with both diabetes and mental health. The implications of these findings extend beyond the scientific community, as they hold promise for informing public health policies, health care practices, and dietary recommendations that can positively impact the general population, said Basiri, the lead author of the papers.  

“Ultimately, the research seeks to empower individuals to make informed and health-promoting dietary choices that can serve as a proactive strategy for the prevention and management of diabetes, as well as anxiety and depression,” Basiri said. 

More specifically, the team’s findings provide a comprehensive view of the relationship between dietary patterns, health outcomes, and the critical role of eating behavior in the context of type 2 diabetes and mental health. 

The team found that eating foods rich in fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean protein, and low-fat dairy is associated with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes and mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety. Conversely, a diet with a large number of processed foods was found to have a negative effect, increasing the susceptibility to type 2 diabetes, depression, and anxiety.  

Additionally, the research team found that a diet with energy-dense foods but lacking in essential nutrients, such as omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, folate, selenium, chromium, and magnesium, is associated with the exacerbation of unfavorable symptoms in both mental health and the development of type 2 diabetes. This connection emphasizes the importance of nutrient-rich dietary choices for overall health and well-being. 

“Current scientific evidence underscores the potential benefits of adopting a well-balanced dietary regimen in decreasing anxiety and depression symptoms while enhancing glycemic control in individuals with diabetes,” said Basiri. 

“Exploring the Interrelationships between Diabetes, Nutrition, Anxiety, and Depression: Implications for Treatment and Prevention Strategies” was published in Nutrients in September 2023 with Mason Master of Science in Nutrition students Blessing Seidu and Mark Rudich as co-authors.  

“Key Nutrients for Optimal Blood Glucose Control and Mental Health in Individuals with Diabetes: A Review of the Evidence” was published in Nutrients in September 2023 with Seidu and Mason Professor Lawrence Cheskin as co-authors. 

Following a Mediterranean diet reduces the risk of cognitive decline in older people

 Old people who follow a Mediterranean diet are at a lower risk of cognitive decline, according to a study published in the journal Molecular Nutrition and Food Research. The study provides new evidence for a better understanding of the biological mechanisms related to the impact of the diet on cognitive health in the ageing population.

The study is led by Mireia Urpí-Sardá, adjunct lecturer and member of the Biomarkers and Nutritional & Food Metabolomics research group of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences, the Institute for Nutrition and Food Safety (INSA-UB), the Food and Nutrition Torribera Campus of the University of Barcelona, and the CIBER on Frailty and Healthy Ageing (CIBERFES).

This European study, part of the Joint Programming Initiative “A Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life” (JPI HDHL) was carried out over twelve years and it involved 840 people over 65 years of age (65% of whom were women) in the Bourdeaux and Dijon regions of France.

Healthy diet and cognitive performance

According to Cristina Andrés-Lacueva, UB professor and head of the CIBERFES group, “within the framework of the study, a dietary metabolomic index has been designed —based on biomarkers obtained from the participants’ serum— on the food groups that form part of the Mediterranean diet. Once this index is known, its association with cognitive impairment is evaluated”.

in the study, baseline levels of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, gut microbiota-derived polyphenol metabolites and other phytochemicals in serum that reflect individual bioavailability were chosen as biomarkers. Some of these indicators have not only been recognized as marks of exposure to the main food groups of the Mediterranean diet but have also been held responsible for the health benefits of the Mediterranean dietary pattern.

The metabolome or set of metabolites — related to food and derived from gut microbiota activity — was studied through a large-scale quantitative metabolomic analysis from the serum of the participants without dementia, from the beginning of the study. Cognitive impairment was assessed by five neuropsychological tests over twelve years.

As a result, the study reveals a protective association between the score of the Mediterranean diet based on serum biomarkers and cognitive decline in older people.

Biomarkers to study the benefits of the diet

According to Mercè Pallàs, professor at the UB Neurosciences Institute (UBneuro), "the use of dietary pattern indices based on food-intake biomarkers is a step forward towards the use of more accurate and objective dietary assessment methodologies that take into account important factors such as bioavailability".

Expert Alba Tor-Roca, first author of the study and CIBERFES researcher at the UB, explains that “we found that adherence to Mediterranean diet assessed by a panel of dietary biomarkers is inversely associated with long-term cognitive decline in older people. These results support the use of these indicators in long-term follow-up assessments to observe the health benefits associated with the Mediterranean diet or other dietary patterns and therefore, guide personalized counselling at older ages”.

14-hour fasting improves hunger, mood and sleep

 

Reports and Proceedings

KING'S COLLEGE LONDON

Eating in a ten-hour window is associated with higher energy and mood and lower hunger levels, new results from the largest UK community science study of its kind shows1 .

Results from the trial are presented today by researchers from King’s College London at the European Nutrition Conference.

Intermittent fasting (IF), or restricting your food consumption to a set window, is a popular weight loss regime. A ten-hour window means limiting your daily eating schedule to ten hours and fasting for the remaining 14 hours. For example, if you eat your first bite at 9am, you must eat your last bite by 7pm. 

Despite some IF advocates commonly promoting restrictive eating windows as low as six hours, findings detailed in the abstract show even eating within a less restrictive window of ten hours still has positive health benefits, such as changes in mood, energy and hunger. 

Those who were consistent with their eating window had greater benefits than those who varied their eating window day to day.

Dr Sarah Berry from King’s College London and chief scientist at ZOE said: “This is the largest study outside of a tightly controlled clinic to show that intermittent fasting can improve your health in a real world setting. What's really exciting is that the findings show that you don’t have to be very restrictive to see positive results. A ten-hour eating window, which was manageable for most people, and improved mood, energy levels and hunger. We found for the first time that those who practised time-restricted eating, but were not consistent day to day, did not have the same positive health effects as those who were dedicated every day. ”  

37,545 people on the ZOE Health app completed the core intervention period of three weeks. Participants were asked to eat as normal for the first week and then a ten-hour eating window for two weeks. 

More than 36,231 participants opted for additional weeks and 27,371 users were classified as highly engaged. Highly engaged participants were 78% female, with a mean age of 60 and a BMI of 25.6. 

Participants with a longer eating window before the intervention saw an even greater benefit to their health.

Kate Bermingham PhD, from King’s College London and ZOE, said: “This study adds to the growing body of evidence showing the importance of how you eat. The health impact of food is not just what you eat but the time at which you choose to consume your meals, and eating window is an important dietary behaviour that can be beneficial for health. Findings shows that we don’t need to be eating all the time. Many people will feel satiated and even lose weight if they restrict their food to a ten-hour window.” 

Shortening sleep time increases diabetes risk in women

 -A new study at Columbia University has found that shortening sleep by just 90 minutes for six weeks increased insulin resistance in women who are accustomed to getting adequate sleep. The effect was even more pronounced in postmenopausal women.

The recommended amount of sleep for optimal health is between seven and nine hours per night, yet about one-third of Americans get less than the minimum recommended amount.  

The findings are the first to show that a mild sleep deficit, maintained for six weeks, causes changes in the body that raise the risk of developing diabetes in women. Previous trials showing the adverse impact on insulin sensitivity included mostly men and focused on the effects of very severe sleep restriction over a short period of time.  

Women and sleep 

The new study looked at women in particular because studies suggest that poor sleep may have a greater impact on women’s cardiometabolic health than men’s.  

“Throughout their lifespan, women face many changes in their sleep habits due to childbearing, child-rearing, and menopause,” says study leader Marie-Pierre St-Onge, PhD, associate professor of nutritional medicine and director of the Center of Excellence for Sleep and Circadian Research at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. “And more women than men have the perception they aren’t getting enough sleep.” 

Studying the health impacts of chronic sleep loss is difficult. Some studies, performed in a laboratory setting, have shown that a brief period of total or partial sleep deprivation impairs glucose metabolism. But such studies do not reflect the typical experience of being mildly sleep-deprived, which means getting by on roughly six hours of sleep for long periods of time.  

Study design 

To look at the impact of mild, chronic sleep deprivation, the researchers enrolled 38 healthy women, including 11 postmenopausal women, who routinely slept at least seven hours each night. 

In the study, the participants underwent two study phases in random order. In one phase, they were asked to maintain their adequate sleep; in the other, they were asked to delay their bedtime for an hour and a half, shortening their total sleep time to around six hours. Each of these phases lasted for six weeks. 

Remarkably, all of the study participants were able to reduce their nightly sleep duration during the arduous six-week sleep-restriction phase. Compliance with sleep schedules was measured with wearable devices. Throughout the study, the researchers measured insulin, glucose, and body fat. 

Study results 

The study found that curtailing sleep by 90 minutes for six weeks increased fasting insulin levels by over 12% overall and by more than 15% among premenopausal women.  

Insulin resistance increased by nearly 15% overall and by more than 20% among postmenopausal women. Average blood sugar levels remained stable for all participants throughout the study. 

“Over a longer period of time, ongoing stress on insulin-producing cells could cause them to fail, eventually leading to type 2 diabetes,” St-Onge says. 

Although increased abdominal fat is a key driver of insulin resistance, the researchers found that the effects of sleep loss on insulin resistance were not due to increases in fat.  

“The fact that we saw these results independent of any changes in body fat, which is a known risk factor for type 2 diabetes, speaks to the impact of mild sleep reduction on insulin-producing cells and metabolism,” St-Onge says.  

“The bottom line is that getting adequate sleep each night may lead to better blood sugar control and reduced risk for type 2 diabetes, especially among postmenopausal women.” 

Next steps 

In recent years, epidemiological studies have suggested that people whose sleep varies from day to day also have a higher risk of developing diabetes. St-Onge and colleagues will look at whether stabilizing sleep patterns among people with variable sleep schedules improves blood sugar control. Additional studies will look at whether restoring sleep for people who routinely don’t get enough may improve glucose metabolism. 

Gargling with salt water may help prevent Covid hospitalization

 As Covid and its health effects move into a fourth year, those who become infected may be searching for remedies to improve their respiratory symptoms and keep them out of the hospital. A new study being presented at this year’s American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) Annual Scientific Meeting in Anaheim, Calif. determined that both a low- and high-dose saline regimen appeared to be associated with lower hospitalization rates compared to controls in SARS-CoV-2 infections.

“Between 2020 and 2022, individuals aged 18-65 years with positive PCR test for SARS-CoV-2 infection were randomly selected to undergo low- or high-dose saline regimens for 14 days,” says Sebastian Espinoza, lead author of the study. “The low- and high-saline solutions consisted of 2.13 grams and 6 grams of salt dissolved in 8 ounces of warm water, respectively. Gargling and nasal rinsing was done four times a day for 14 days. Primary outcomes included frequency and duration of symptoms associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection; secondary outcomes included hospital or ICU admission, mechanical ventilatory support, or death. Exclusion criteria were chronic hypertension or participation in another interventional study. Those on the low- and high-dose saline solutions, as well as those in the reference population, had similar rates of vaccination.”

58 individuals were allocated to either the low (27) or high (28) saline regimens; 3 were lost to follow-up. There were no significant differences in the primary or secondary outcomes of the study between these two groups. During the study period, 9,398 individuals with positive SARS-CoV-2 infection were evaluated and were the reference population. The hospitalization rates in the low- (18.5%) and high- (21.4%) saline regimens were significantly lower than in the reference population (58.8%.) No significant differences were noted in other outcomes among these groups.

“Our goal was to examine saline nasal irrigation and gargling for possible association to improved respiratory symptoms associated with coronavirus infection,” says Jimmy Espinoza, MD, co-author of the study. “We found that both saline regimens appear to be associated with lower hospitalization rates compared to controls in SARS-CoV-2 infections. We hope more studies can be done to further investigate the association.”

Any activity is better for your heart than sitting – even sleeping

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON

The study, supported by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and published in the European Heart Journal, is the first to assess how different movement patterns throughout the 24-hour day are linked to heart health. It is the first evidence to emerge from the international Prospective Physical Activity, Sitting and Sleep (ProPASS) consortium.

Cardiovascular disease, which refers to all diseases of the heart and circulation, is the number one cause of mortality globally. In 2021, it was responsible for one in three deaths (20.5m), with coronary heart disease alone the single biggest killer. Since 1997, the number of people living with cardiovascular disease across the world has doubled and is projected to rise further1.

In this study, researchers at UCL analysed data from six studies, encompassing 15,246 people from five countries, to see how movement behaviour across the day is associated with heart health, as measured by six common indicators2. Each participant used a wearable device on their thigh to measure their activity throughout the 24-hour day and had their heart health measured.

The researchers identified a hierarchy of behaviours that make up a typical 24-hour day, with time spent doing moderate-vigorous activity providing the most benefit to heart health, followed by light activity, standing and sleeping compared with the adverse impact of sedentary behaviour3.

The team modelled what would happen if an individual changed various amounts of one behaviour for another each day for a week, in order to estimate the effect on heart health for each scenario. When replacing sedentary behaviour, as little as five minutes of moderate-vigorous activity had a noticeable effect on heart health.

For a 54-year-old woman with an average BMI of 26.5, for example, a 30-minute change translated into a 0.64 decrease in BMI, which is a difference of 2.4%. Replacing 30 minutes of daily sitting or lying time with moderate or vigorous exercise could also translate into a 2.5 cm (2.7%) decrease in waist circumference or a 1.33 mmol/mol (3.6%) decrease in glycated haemoglobin4.

Dr Jo Blodgett, first author of the study from UCL Surgery & Interventional Science and the Institute of Sport, Exercise & Health, said: “The big takeaway from our research is that while small changes to how you move can have a positive effect on heart health, intensity of movement matters. The most beneficial change we observed was replacing sitting with moderate to vigorous activity – which could be a run, a brisk walk, or stair climbing – basically any activity that raises your heart rate and makes you breathe faster, even for a minute or two.”

The researchers pointed out that although time spent doing vigorous activity was the quickest way to improve heart health, there are ways to benefit for people of all abilities – it’s just that the lower the intensity of the activity, the longer the time is required to start having a tangible benefit. Using a standing desk for a few hours a day instead of a sitting desk, for example, is a change over a relatively large amount of time but is also one that could be integrated into a working routine fairly easily as it does not require any time commitment.

Those who are least active were also found to gain the greatest benefit from changing from sedentary behaviours to more active ones.

Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis, joint senior author of the study from the Charles Perkins Centre and Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney, said: “A key novelty of the ProPASS consortium is the use of wearable devices that better differentiate between types of physical activity and posture, allowing us to estimate the health effects of even subtle variations with greater precision.”

Though the findings cannot infer causality between movement behaviours and cardiovascular outcomes, they contribute to a growing body of evidence linking moderate to vigorous physical activity over 24 hours with improved body fat metrics. Further long-term studies will be crucial to better understanding the associations between movement and cardiovascular outcomes.

Professor Mark Hamer, joint senior author of the study from UCL Surgery & Interventional Science and the Institute of Sport, Exercise & Health, said: “Though it may come as no surprise that becoming more active is beneficial for heart health, what’s new in this study is considering a range of behaviours across the whole 24-hour day. This approach will allow us to ultimately provide personalised recommendations to get people more active in ways that are appropriate for them.”

James Leiper, Associate Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation, said: “We already know that exercise can have real benefits for your cardiovascular health and this encouraging research shows that small adjustments to your daily routine could lower your chances of having a heart attack or stroke. This study shows that replacing even a few minutes of sitting with a few minutes of moderate activity can improve your BMI, cholesterol, waist size, and have many more physical benefits.

“Getting active isn’t always easy, and it’s important to make changes that you can stick to in the long-term and that you enjoy – anything that gets your heart rate up can help. Incorporating ‘activity snacks’ such as walking while taking phone calls, or setting an alarm to get up and do some star jumps every hour is a great way to start building activity into your day, to get you in the habit of living a healthy, active lifestyle.”