Category Archives: food

Aug 21 NO comments
entertainment, food, Oregon wine, WBC Scholarship, wine, Wine Bloggers Conference

Summary of the Wine Bloggers Conference 2012: Part I



This post is one of a two-part series that briefly summarizes my experiences at the Wine Bloggers Conference in a light-hearted manner.  These posts will be followed later by a more academic/scientific analysis of specific events of the conference, as well as my plans for expanding The Academic Wino blog.

The Academic Wino is back from the Wine Bloggers Conference (#WBC12) in Portland, Oregon!  All I can say is; “holy sleep deprivation, Batman”!  Thanks to a scholarship from the WBC Scholarship, I had such an amazing time at the conference: I made a lot of new friends, learned a wealth of information both related to blogging and wine, and tasted literally hundreds of amazing wines from all over the globe!


I plan on writing more detailed posts on some of the more interesting parts of the conference from an academic standpoint in the near future, however, since I am still recovering from all the traveling, today I will simply summarize all of the fun times that were had and share a few pictures!

The weekend for me started off at 3:45am EDT in Charlottesville, VA.  Being the cheap person that I am, I ended up with 2 layovers: 1 in Charlotte, NC, and the next in Phoenix, AZ before landing in Portland at 1pm PDT.  After unpacking my things in the hotel room, which I shared with another Wine Bloggers Conference Scholarship award winner, Nannette Eaton of Wine Harlots, I decided the most logical thing would be to go for a run in along the river in the great city of Portland!  I’m certain this added to my fatigue, but seeing as how I’m training for my next marathon, it needed to be done!

The kick-off to the conference was the Welcome Reception Thursday night, hosted by the Oregon Wine Board.  Here I met Jeff Weissler from Conscious Wine and Luke Whittall from Wine Country BC, and tasted the night away sampling wines from several Oregon wineries, including many that were biodynamic and/or organic.  Barely able to stand any more, due to exhaustion and not inebriation (hey-I was spitting!), I called it a night in hopes that my body would shift over to Pacific Time instead of working on Eastern Time!
Just one of the many wines consumed over the weekend!


Feeling somewhat refreshed Friday morning, I decided to go for another quick run before taking part in the registration and trade show.  My hunger was satisfied later in the morning at the Argentine Food and Wine pairing brunch, which was full of amazing Argentinean morsels and equally delicious wines.  A fun little extra during this brunch was the live Argentinean dancers entertaining us with their body poetry. 

The Conference officially opened with the key note speech by Randall Graham, which was both inspiring and downright hilarious.  Immediately following Graham’s speech was the first Live Blogging session of the conference.  I have to say, this sort of thing was new to me, as you know that tasting and reviewing wines does not fall along the lines of the mission of The Academic Wino.  Of course I’ve tasted many wines in my life; however I’ve never talked about any specific wines in particular in a blog post.  Regardless, I tasted all 10 wines that made their way to my table, made notes, and thoroughly enjoyed this new experience.

Tasting wines overlooking Phelps Creek Vineyard
After the tasting, we split up into several busses and headed off toward different wineries.  I was on Bus 1, which ended up heading to the Columbia Gorge AVA, specifically, Phelps Creek Vineyard.  Once we arrived, we took a hayride up to the vineyard itself, since the road there was in no condition for a bus to handle.  We enjoyed a reception and tasting overlooking the vineyard that featured wines from Phelps Creek Vineyard, Vento Wines, The Pines Vineyard, Cathedral Ridge Winery, and Naked Winery. 

Following the reception, we took a short tour of the vineyard and then made our way up to the crush pad for an amazing 5 course dinner with wine pairings.  The food and wine were absolutely amazing, and will surely be an experience I will never forget.  After dinner, we got back on the bus and made the hour-long trip back to Portland. 
Amazing view of Mt. Hood from Phelps Creek Vineyard

Of course, being on Eastern time and after having wine all day in the 100 degree sun (I swear, I spit almost the whole time!), I was utterly exhausted and called it quits once we got back to the hotel.  This decision resulted in me missing The Night of Many Bottles, where everyone brought at least one bottle from their home region or cellar.  I brought the 2010 Festa di Bacco Super Tuscan-style blend from Afton Mountain Vineyards, though since I didn’t attend the event, I have no idea what people thought of it!  Wine bloggers:  if you remember tasting this wine, please let me know what you thought! ;)

Stay tuned for the remainder of the summary tomorrow, and also a brief summary of what I learned regarding growing my own blog in addition to how I plan to expand the blog in the coming months.

Thank you again to all those who donated to the WBC Scholarship, as well as all those involved with putting this conference together.  It was a truly amazing experience, and I am eternally grateful for all that I have gained from my time in Portland.
Aug 06 NO comments
antioxidants, chemistry, cholesterol, contaminants, flavor, food, grape seed extract, grapes, phenolics, pomace, research, spoilage

Using Grape Seed Extract in Beef Patty Marinades: Evidence for the Reduction of Carcinogenic Compounds in Red Meat



It has been well established that consumption of red and processed meats increases the risks of developing colorectal cancer, as well as other negative health effects in humans.  Specifically, studies have found that people should not eat more than 500 grams of red meat (cooked) per week, and should avoid processed meats entirely.  In these meats, heterocyclic amines (HAs) are present, some of which are known to be carcinogenic in animals (including PhIP, MeIQx, and 4, 8-DiMeIQx).

http://www.nmgastronome.com/usa/
burgers/Images/WineBurger01.jpg
Some studies have found that by adding antioxidants, the formation of these carcinogenic HAs is inhibited.  Specifically, these studies have examined antioxidant protection from tart cherry tissue, carotenoids from tomatoes, fruit extracts, or various spices.  One extract in particular, grape seed extract, is known to have very high antioxidant capacities, and therefore is a viable option for inhibiting the formation of HAs in the food industry. 

The goal of the study presented today was to determine the ability of water-in-oil marinades containing grape seed extracts to reduce the HA content in beef patties.  Marinades were chosen due to their known ability to reduce HA content in meats, according to some studies.

Methods

Frozen beef patties were approximately 70 grams and measured 8x113x105mm.

Grape seed extract was produced by water extraction and spray drying.  The extract was then dissolved in ultrapure water, filtered, and then used in the marinades using the following amounts: 0.2g, 0.4g, 0.6g, and 0.8g per 100g water-in-oil emulsion.

Water in oil emulsions were created by homogenizing 67.5 grams of sunflower oil, 0.5 grams of an emulsifier (citric acid esters of mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids) and 32 grams of the diluted grape seed extract.  The emulsions were set to marinade with the beef patties immediately after manufacturing.  Water-in-oil emulsion controls without grape seed extract were also included in the study.

Beef patties were fried on two plates of a double contact grill that was preheated to 230oC.   Frozen patties were coated with 1.5 grams of refined sunflower oil alone or water-in-oil emulsions with or without the grape seed extract on both sides.  Patties were then covered on both sides with aluminum foil.  Patties were fried for 2 minutes and 40 seconds, a time which has been established to result in acceptable sensory character in beef patties.  For each treatment, 8 patties were fried and homogenized for chemical analysis.  For sensory analysis, 8 patties were fried (after marination) and divided into four pieces each.

The following were measured/analyzed for all treatments:  antioxidant capacity, total phenolic content, concentrations of HAs, beef patty weight loss, creatine content, and glucose levels.

For the sensory analysis, 8 panelists were selected and trained to analyze sensory characteristics of beef in this type of marinade system.  Sensory characteristics were ranked on a hedonic scale, ranging from 1 (best color and/or flavor) to 6 (worst color and/or flavor).  Panelist also described any potential negative color or flavor characteristics.

Results

  • Beef patties broke down into the following components: 61.1g/100g moisture, 0.72g/100g minerals, 21.2g/100g fat, 17.6g/100g protein, 0.293g/100g hydroxyl proline, and 0.84g/100g glucose.
  • Beef patties were found to contain the HAs MeIQx, PhIP, and the co-mutagenic β-carbolines Norharman and Harman.
  • The highest amount of grape seed extract present in the marinades (8g/kg) resulted in a reduction in MeIQx of 68% and a reduction in PhIP of 90%.
  • Increased amounts of grape seed extract in the marinades led to increased concentrations of the β-carbolines Norharman and Harman.
  • There were no significant differences between patty weight loss in the control samples versus the samples marinated in grape seed extract.
  • Patties pretreated with grape seed extract were significantly darker at the highest concentration of extract that all other samples (8g/kg).
  • Compared to rosemary extract (which was also studied in this paper but not presented for the purpose of this blog’s theme), grape seed extract had a significantly higher antioxidant activity.
  • Total phenolic content in grape seed extract was 26 times higher than in rosemary extract.
  • Linear correlation analysis suggested that formation of the HAs MeIQx and PhIP are dependent upon the antioxidant capacity of the extract.
  • Sensory analysis found no differences between control beef patties and beef patties marinated in grape seed extract.

o   Both color and flavor were not significantly different between these treatments.

Conclusions

The results of this study indicate that levels of the two carcinogenic HAs that were found in frozen beef patties, MeIQx and PhIP, were significantly reduced after a marinade treatment containing grape seed extract.  This result is likely due to the fact that grape seed extract contains high concentrations of antioxidants, which are effective free radical removers and thus overall effective HA reducers.

By looking at water and oil as bases for the beef patties marinades, the authors determined that the solubility of the grape seed extract components were not as important as the total phenol and antioxidant content of the marinades.  In addition to antioxidants, according to the authors it is possible that other compounds are playing important roles in the reduction and inhibition of HAs, including hexose and pentose, the effects of which warrant further study.

Overall, the results of this study indicate that using grape seed extracts in beef patty marinades is an effective pretreatment prior to the cooking process, since it significantly reduces the levels of carcinogenic HAs in the meat as well as having no effect on the sensory characteristics of the finished hamburger.  It is possible that this pretreatment may be recommended to restaurants that cook significant numbers of beef patties (including fast food chains) and also possibly the pretreatment of meat going to grocery stores and specialty shops.

I’d love to hear what you all think about this topic!  Would you like to have seen the authors perform any other types of analysis?  Please feel free to leave your comments below!

Source:  Gibis, M., and Weiss, J. 2012. Antioxidant capacity and inhibitory effect of grape seed and rosemary extract in marinades on the formation of heterocyclic amines in fried beef patties. Food Chemistry 134: 766-774.

DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2012.02.179


 I am not a health professional, nor do I pretend to be. Please consult your doctor before altering your alcohol consumption habits. Do not consume alcohol if you are under the age of 21. Do not drink and drive. Enjoy responsibly!
Aug 03 NO comments
alcohol, anthocyanins, aroma, chemistry, contaminants, enology, fermentation, fining agents, flavor, food, phenolics, research, volatiles, wine chemistry, wine preference, wine quality

Eliminating the Fishy Aftertaste of Wine-Seafood Pairings: A Novel Approach


There is a whole host of information, both scientific and anecdotal, on how to pair wine with food, which is in a continual state of flux.  One example of a wine and food pairing that is often not recommended is red wine with seafood.  This pairing is often not recommended as a result of the perception of a fishy aftertaste and metallic odors due to the tannins and other compounds in the wine.  It has also been observed that white wine sometimes carries with it this same fishy aftertaste when paired with seafood, and since white wine has very little tannin, the recommendation that red wine not be paired with seafood as a result of the tannin is likely anecdotal.  In fact, a recent study found that iron was actually a key cause of the fishy aftertaste in wine, occurring both in red and white wines.


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Finding a way to eliminate this fishy aftertaste in wine is very important, especially since statistics show that the world consumption of seafood is on the rise, and one should be able to drink any wine they’d like with their meal without incurring any unwanted flavors.  The average concentration of iron found in wines around the world ranges from 2.8 to 16mg/L.  Iron gets into the wine by way of the soil, dust, and the winemaking equipment.  When there are excess levels of iron present in the wine, certain fining agents or cooling may be used to precipitate the iron and subsequently remove it from the finished wine.

One major problem with this removal method is that only very low levels of iron are needed to elicit the fishy aftertaste in wine after seafood pairing, and current methods used for removing iron would not be able to bring iron levels down low enough without removing other important quality compounds in the wine.  Ferrocyanide is known to effectively remove iron, however, its’ disposal is problematic as it is considered toxic waste.  Phytic acid is a more trusted and safe compound for removing iron in food products though, like other removal methods, it does not effectively remove enough iron to prevent the fishy aftertaste.

The goal of the study presented today was to determine an effective method for removing iron from wine in order to reduce the fishy aftertaste in wine-seafood pairings by using yeast as an adsorbent.

Methods

Wine yeast OC-2 was cultured in pre-prepared media at 25oC for 3 days.

Generic white grape juice concentrate was dissolved and diluted to 20oBrix.  The final adjusted concentration of iron in the juice was 4-7mg/L.

Fermentation between the OC-2 yeast and prepared grape juice was performed at 20oC for 30 days in a 50mL test tube while in the presence of oxygen.  Samples were taken throughout the fermentation process to measure sugar, yeast concentration, and yeast viability.

Wines made for sensory analysis started off with the same grape juice base as described previously.  Active dry yeast DV10 was used for fermentation, which was performed at 20oC for 7 days in a 15L jar fermentor.  After fermentation, wine was centrifuged and fined with chitosan and bentonite.  Other wines (both red and white) were purchased from the domestic market in Japan.

Titratable acidity, sulfur dioxide, and pH of all wine samples were measured.  Yeast cell viability was also measured.

To prepare yeast cell with alcohol (in order to function as the adsorbant), yeast cells were cultured for 3 days then alcohol was added to a final concentration of 20-70% (v/v).  Wet alcohol-treated yeast cells were then dried.

Once alcohol-treated yeasts were created, they were added to the wines and grape juices at varying concentrations and shaken.  Wines were treated by the addition of 1, 2, and 3g/L of alcohol-treated yeasts.  Yeasts were left to sit in the wines for one day, then were centrifuged and removed.

A Phytic acid treatment was also included in this study.  Phytic acid was added to the wines and grape juices, left for one day, then centrifuged and removed.

Efficacy of iron removal from wine by using alcohol-treated yeast cells was determined by measuring the iron left over in the wines after treatment and comparing these values with the iron levels measured before the treatment began.

A sensory analysis was also performed on the wines to determine the intensity of fishy aftertaste.  The panel was made up of 11 staff members (7 men and 4 women) ranging from age 26 to 59, all with wine tasting experience. 

A triangle test was performed by comparing an untreated control wine to wine treated with alcohol-treated yeast cells, followed by a 30 minute incubation and then clarification using fining agents.  Panelists were given three glasses of wine and were told one differed from the other two.  20 sets of wine in two sessions were evaluated.  Alcohol-treated yeast wines were always compared to a no treatment control.

Panelists were first trained to the fishy aftertaste by way of a reference solution that contained 3mM FeSO4.

Perceived intensity of the fishy aftertaste was measured as: 1) barely detectable; 2) weak; 3) moderate; 4) strong; and 5) strongest imaginable.

Commercial dried scallops were used for the wine-seafood pairing, since scallops are known to elicit a very strong fishy aftertaste in wine. The protocol was as follows: 1) chewing and swallowing scallops; then 2) taking a sip of wine; and then 3) evaluating the intensity of the fishy aftertaste.  Drinking water was provided in between each food-seafood pairing.

Wine samples were presented at random.  At first, panelists only tasted wines.  Afterwards, panelists tasted three wines with dried scallops.

Wine without the alcohol-treated yeast was the positive control.

The following were measured to determine if the treatment affected other compounds in the wine: organic acids, alcohols, esters, aldehydes, and finally, iron.

Results

  • Wine yeast cells adsorbed iron rapidly during the early stages of fermentation.
  • Gradual release of iron was observed after 10 hours of incubation.
  • The OC-2 yeast strain did not take up iron during fermentation as well as the common wine yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
  • Approximately 100 hours after fermentation, as the proportion of dead cells increased, the concentration of iron in the wine decreased.

o   This suggests dead yeast have a significant ability to adsorb iron in wine.
  • Greater than 40% v/v ethanol in treated yeasts was required for effective iron adsorption.

o   Less the 30% v/v ethanol is not recommended, as it may not kill all of the yeast and thus risk refermentation or other complications.
  • The addition of ethanol-treated yeast cells to wine pretreated with phytic acid was observed to remove all of the residual iron in the wine.

o   This synergistic effect was not affected by the drying process of the yeast, as iron removal was the same for both fresh and dried treated yeasts.
  • Using 1g/L or 3g/L of ethanol-treated yeasts alone removed all residual iron from the wines.

o   Using a mixture of phytic acid plus ethanol-treated yeasts allowed the concentration of yeasts needed to remove all residual iron to drop down to only 0.5g/L.
  • The combination of ethanol-treated yeasts plus phytic acid was the most effective treatment in reducing iron levels in wine.

o   Other alcohols tested and found to be just as effective as ethanol were: n-propanol and isopropyl alcohol.

Sensory Analysis

  • Panelists were not able to tell the difference between control wines and wines treated with 1 and 2g/L of ethanol-treated yeasts.
  • Wines treated with isopropyl alcohol-treated yeasts plus phytic acid resulted in the least fishy aftertaste.
  • In regards to organic acids, esters, alcohols, and aldehydes, there were no differences in concentrations of these compounds between untreated control wines and wines treated with alcohol-treated yeasts and/or phytic acid.


Conclusions

According to the results of this study, the authors claim that they have successfully developed a novel method for enhancing the iron-adsorbing ability of yeasts (and thus iron removal from wine) by treating the yeasts with greater than or equal to 40% v/v ethanol.  The drying process did not seem to have any effect on the iron-adsorbing ability of the yeasts, which is good news for large scale processing and distribution of the product.

Iron removal was found to be very effective with the combination of alcohol-treated yeasts and phytic acid, however, phytic acid alone was not nearly as effective.  This study found that phytic acid is more effective in some wines than others, and that using alcohol-treated yeasts in concert with the compound would removal all iron from the wine without question.

The authors suggested one problem with using alcohol-treated yeasts to remove iron in wine and that is that there is a relatively high cost to filtering something with such high a density.  When using alcohol-treated yeasts alone, 3 g/L of cells were required to be effective.  This could be costly to filter such a relatively dense mass once the iron removal process was complete.  By using a combination of alcohol-treated yeasts and phytic acid, the authors found that significantly less alcohol-treated yeasts would be required to effectively remove iron in wine.  Specifically, when used in concert with phytic acid, only 0.5 g/L of alcohol-treated yeast cells are needed.  By using much less alcohol-treated yeasts, the cost of filtering and removal is markedly reduced.

The results of this study present an effective method for iron removal from wine using alcohol-treated yeast cells followed by a phytic acid treatment.  The sensory results were promising in that this treatment resulted in wine that had no hints of fishy aftertaste when consumed after eating scallops; nor were there any negative changes in the desirable sensory characteristics of the wine.  I’d be curious to see if the results are repeatable at a commercial level, and also if the treatment is effective in all varietals and blends. 

Being that it is the first paper showing the effectiveness of this new iron removal method for wine, much more research needs to be done.  I’m curious, what do you all think should be the next step in this line of research?  Leave your comments below!

Source:  Tsuji, T., Kanai, K., Yokoyama, A., Tamura, T., Hanamure, K., Sasaki, K., Takata, R., and Yoshida, S. 2012. Novel Method to Reduce Fishy Aftertaste in Wine and Seafood Pairing Using Alcohol-Treated Yeast Cells. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 60: 6197-6203.

DOI: 10.1021/jf300265x



I am not a health professional, nor do I pretend to be. Please consult your doctor before altering your alcohol consumption habits. Do not consume alcohol if you are under the age of 21. Do not drink and drive. Enjoy responsibly!
Jul 18 NO comments
adults, alcohol, allergy, egg protein, enology, food, health, intolerance, research, wine chemistry, wine preference

How Common Are Wine Allergies?: The First Study Results



This post comes as a suggestion from a reader (@dswaddle) who contacted me with an idea for a peer reviewed article to present.  Great find! If any of you have papers/ideas in mind, don’t hesitate to contact me with your suggestions!

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uploads/2010/12/wine_allergy_080908_mn.jpg
We’ve all read countless articles that show positive benefits of wine on various aspects of human health.  However, what is not as often studied are the more negative effects felt by certain individuals.  Specifically, many people claim to have a wine allergy or intolerance, which may range from very mild to severe in rare cases.  When I was working 5 days per week in the tasting room, I would hear at least once a day a story of how someone possessed symptoms of wine intolerance/allergy, or how a friend of theirs could not drink red wine without suffering some consequences.  All that we know about wine intolerance, however, is anecdotal or conjecture, since to date there have been no studies examining the frequency of wine intolerance in humans. 

The short exploratory study presented today aimed to evaluate how common wine intolerance actually is in a wine region, the results of which may serve as a baseline or launching point for many epidemiological studies on wine intolerance in the future.

Methods

4000 people were randomly selected from the residential population of Mainz, Germany.  A short questionnaire was sent out to all 4000 individuals in 2010, and 1114 of them (27.9%) were returned to the researchers.  Out of those 1114 questionnaires, only those that were completely filled out were analyzed, therefore a total of 948 individuals’ questionnaires were subjected to analysis.

The short questionnaire asked questions regarding sex, age, as well as the average weekly consumption of wine, beer, and liquor.  In addition, questions regarding allergy-like symptoms after wine consumption were also included (for red, white, and rosé wines), with a list of symptoms being supplied by the researchers.  Questions regarding frequency of symptoms were also included in the questionnaire.  Questions regarding allergies or intolerances to other items such as pollen, house dust, latex, medications, seafood, nuts, milk, apples, cherries, oranges, peaches, plums, kiwis, strawberries, grapes, bananas, carrots, peppers, alcohol, or beer were also included.  In addition to self-reporting, participants were asked to note if any of these allergies had been medically diagnosed.  All reported symptoms were considered as a symptom of wine intolerance except for headache, which is an extremely general symptom and could be a result of other ailments or problems.

Participants were labeled as being “wine intolerant” if their symptoms scores summed greater than 10 (see Table 1 for individual symptom scores), or if they self-reported to be wine intolerant.

Table 1 from Wigand et al, 2012.


Results

  • Mean age of participants was 43.7 years.
  • 429 of the participants were men (45.3%), and 519 were women (54.7%).
  • The distribution for age and sex of the study group was comparable to the entire Mainz, Germany population, with only the younger generation not as represented.
  • 84.3% of participants said they consumed alcohol during the past year.
  • 76.6% of participants said they consumed wine, with an average of 3.66 glasses per week.
  • Participants reported consuming slightly more white wines than red, and almost no rosé wines.
  • 49.3% of participants reported consuming beer.
  • 18.1% of participants reported consuming liquor.
  • Men drank more wine then women; however, after only taking into account those that consume alcohol, there was no difference in wine consumption between men and women.
  • 3.2% of participants claimed they have an intolerance to wine (9 men and 21 women).
  • Only one man and one woman had a wine allergy that was verified by a doctor.
  • 24% of participants reported allergy-like symptoms after consuming wine.

o   223 of the 225 reporting symptoms also reported headache, however, this symptom was not included in analysis due to the very non-specific nature of the symptom.
  • More people reported symptoms after consuming red wine than white wine.
  • Wine intolerance scores over 10 were observed for 23% of those that reported symptoms.

o   Only 14 of these individuals (14 out of 52) actually claimed they had a wine intolerance.
  • The following were the most common symptoms reported for wine intolerance in participants:

o   Flushed skin (57.4%)
o   Itching (35.3%)
o   Rhinorrhea (32.4%)
o   Diarrhea (27.9%)
o   Tachycardia (25.0%)
o   Stomach or Intestinal Cramps (25.0%)
  • Of those reporting wine intolerance (68 people), 57.5% of them reported experiencing flushed skin.

o   Flushed skin occurred often or always for 36.8% of those reporting experiencing the symptom.
  • Two people reported circulatory collapse after drinking wine, though this reaction was rare.
  • 22% of participants (209 individuals) reported having food intolerance, with more women reporting food intolerance than men.

o   The most common food allergies reported were nuts, apples, and milk.
  • Other common intolerances/allergies reported were pollen, house dust, and medication.

o   Many of these intolerances were confirmed by a doctor, however, most wine/beer/alcohol intolerances went unconfirmed.
  • Those participants with a wine intolerance more frequently reported that they had other intolerances in addition to wine.

o   15 of the 68 reporting wine intolerance also reported beer intolerance, and 19 reported intolerance to alcohol in general.
  • Of the 68 individuals reporting wine intolerance, 18 did not drink wine, and 10 did not drink alcohol at all.
  • Those in the wine intolerance group self-reported drinking on average 2.66 glasses of wine per week (when only those that consumed alcohol were considered) compared to 3.66 glasses per week reported by the self-proclaimed wine drinkers in the study.
  • There was no difference between the 68 individuals with self-reported wine intolerance and the 880 who did not claim wine intolerance in respect to average wine consumption levels.


Limitations

This study has several limitations that were presented by the authors, which make extrapolating the results to a larger population more difficult.

First, there was a low return rate on the questionnaires.  According to the authors, a low return rate such as this one could lead to selection bias and therefore either an over- or underestimation of the frequency of wine intolerance.  However, if one were to assume all of the wine intolerant individuals sent in their completed questionnaires, then that would result in a wine intolerance prevalence of 1.7% (or 68 out of 4000 people), which would therefore be the lower limit of wine intolerance.  This result suggests wine intolerance is higher and more prevalent in adult humans than first thought.

Second, adding up the individual symptoms to result in a “threshold 10 points” may not be an accurate representation of which individuals are wine intolerant and which are not.  A single symptom could, in fact, be the result of wine intolerance, however, if that symptom were not worth “10 points”, it would not be counted as wine intolerance in this study. 

Third, the results of this study were based 100% off self-reported data, which may not be completely accurate.  Clinical trials would be necessary to corroborate or refute these self-reported figures.

Next, sociodemographics were also not considered for this study, which could potentially have an effect on the results if taken into consideration.

Finally, this study focused only on a group of individuals from one particular wine region in the world.  The results, therefore, may not be generalizable to the entire general public, and more studies incorporating many different groups of individuals may be required to get a greater sense of the wine intolerance in the general population.

Conclusions

According to the authors, this study is the first of its kind to present data on the frequency of wine intolerance in a general population.  About one quarter of those individuals claiming wine intolerance also claimed general alcohol intolerance, which could be one of the underlying causes of the wine intolerance:  it’s not that they are allergic to the wine, but in fact allergic to the alcohol within the wine.  It is unlikely the intolerance is a result of an allergic reaction to grapes themselves, since results showed that only 6 out of 68 wine-intolerant individuals claimed intolerance to grapes.

Also according to the authors, others may also have intolerance related to the presence of lipid transfer protein (LTP) in the wine, which is known to cause allergic reactions in some individuals.  Since LTP is located on the skins of grapes, it is possible that those individuals citing intolerance to red wine but not white wine have an intolerance to the LTP protein, which gets deposited in the wine after the maceration (skin contact) process of red wine production.

The results of this study, though rich in methodological limitations, suggest that wine intolerance is a relatively common occurrence in the general population, comparable to intolerance of other foods and allergenic sources.  Clinical research trials are required to further understand this phenomena, as simple questionnaires alone will not tease out the intricate mechanistic details of what is likely multiple reasons and mechanisms for wine intolerance.

I’d love to hear what you all this of this topic!  Please feel free to leave your comments below!

Source: Wigand, P., Blettner, M., Saloga, J., and Decker, H. 2012. Prevalence of wine intolerance: results of a survey from Mainz, Germany. Deutsches Ärzteblatt International 109 (25): 437-444.

DOI: 10.3238/arztebl.2012.0437






I am not a health professional, nor do I pretend to be. Please consult your doctor before altering your alcohol consumption habits. Do not consume alcohol if you are under the age of 21. Do not drink and drive. Enjoy responsibly!
Oct 27 NO comments
Blog, charlottesville podcasting network, chiropractor, disease, food, health, In The News, neck

Chiropractor Dr. Dolly Garnecki – Expert on Eating for Health

Dr. Dolly was featured in the American Chiropractic Association news magazine for November with highlights on her military career and how chiropractic care helped her overcome whiplash injury to her neck.

href="http://www.scoliosisdoc.com/files/2011/10/Screen-shot-2011-10-27-at-1.29.14-PM.png"> class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1235" src="http://www.scoliosisdoc.com/files/2011/10/Screen-shot-2011-10-27-at-1.29.14-PM.png" alt="Dr. Dolly Garnecki in American Chiropractic Association magazine" width="595" height="335" />Read the href="http://mydigimag.rrd.com/publication/?i=85325">full article interview online (on page 25).

This morning and again at noon, Dr. Garnecki was interviewed by NBC29 reporter Jennifer Von Reuter as a local health expert on food and health as disease prevention and keeping kids disease-free.

href="http://www.nbc29.com/story/15889491/chiropractor-helps-patients-and-families-with-nutrition"> class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1236" src="http://www.scoliosisdoc.com/files/2011/10/Screen-shot-2011-10-27-at-1.15.59-PM.png" alt="Dr. Dolly Garnecki, Eating for your Health on NBC29" width="478" height="273" />Watch the full news clip online at href="http://www.nbc29.com/story/15889491/chiropractor-helps-patients-and-families-with-nutrition">NBC29.com.

href="http://www.nbc29.com/story/15889491/chiropractor-helps-patients-and-families-with-nutrition"> class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1237" src="http://www.scoliosisdoc.com/files/2011/10/Screen-shot-2011-10-27-at-1.33.59-PM.png" alt="Charlottesville Chiropractor Dr. Dolly Garnecki Eating for Health on NBC29" width="508" height="872" />—–

For more health updates for you and your family, stay tuned for an announcement about an upcoming podcast series, “Staying Aligned with Dr. Dolly: healthy. joyful. living.” launching next week on href="http://www.cvillepodcast.com/">Charlottesville Podcasting Network! class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 10px;"> href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http://www.scoliosisdoc.com/2011/10/chiropractor-dr-dolly-garnecki-expert-on-eating-for-health/"> /> src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http://www.scoliosisdoc.com/2011/10/chiropractor-dr-dolly-garnecki-expert-on-eating-for-health/&source=virginiachiro&style=normal&service=bit.ly&hashtags=charlottesville+podcasting+network,chiropractor,disease,food,health,neck&b=2" height="61" width="50" /> />

href="http://www.scoliosisdoc.com/2011/10/chiropractor-dr-dolly-garnecki-expert-on-eating-for-health/">Chiropractor Dr. Dolly Garnecki – Expert on Eating for Health is a post from: href="http://www.scoliosisdoc.com">Scoliosis Solutions