I’m writing this brief piece because once again I’ve stumbled upon a piece of text on the internet from a reputable source that gives out completely false information – it says “sulphites in wine are unlikely to affect you unless you are asthmatic”. That couldn’t be further from the truth!
There are tens of thousands of people who have developed a sulphite allergy over the last few years, and this has absolutely nothing to do with being asthmatic. You do not need to be diagnosed with asthma to become allergic to sulphites! This association has been made because one of the many possible symptoms of a sulphite allergy is anaphalactic shock. Another common sympton is sneezing so it’s like saying it only affects a minority of hayfever sufferers!
But the biggest fault with this statement – far worse than just being entirely wrong regarding who may have an allergic reaction to sulphites – is the implication that they do no harm to anybody else! Sulphites poison people and cause cancer (and asthma by chance). It was just announced this week that half of cancers could be prevented by better diet and lifestyle. And they highlighted that medical and press favourite “alcohol”. It is not the alcohol that does this, but it is directly related to many (but not all!) alcoholic drinks – the ones which contain masses of added sulphites.
If you knew what went into the cheap factory produced wines that you see on the supermarket shelves, you would run a mile. Up to 80 different chemicals are permitted to be added.
Many of the supermarket own branded food products now state on the label “no artificial additives or preservatives”. Yet they opt for the cheapest nastiest wines they can source. It’s all very well cutting out processed foods (which were again named as a cause of cancer in this research, which again all contain high levels of sulphites), but it won’t make any significant difference to you if you continue to drink highly chemicalled wines.
Drinking good, natural wine is actually highly beneficial to your health, and actively combats cancer as the natural anti oxidants neutralise the potentially harmful free radicals in your body. So to say that “alcohol causes cancer” is firstly completely untrue and secondly completely irresponsible. If they said “factory manufactured alcoholic drinks with added sulphites cause cancer” they would be bang on, but of course there would be uproar in the global production companies and supermarkets who make so much money out of them, not to mention the Treasury who does rather nicely too. So they’ll just say nothing, and let us all go on consuming toxins on a daily basis.
If you want to look after your long term health cut out processed foods AND processed wines, and eat and drink natural healthy produce. The “Mediteranean diet” is just that – local wines made without masses of added chemicals, and fresh natural fruit, veg and meat, again non-processed without all these additional chemicals. Is it coincidence these are some of the longest lived people on the planet? – No, they just don’t poison themselves on a daily basis as many of us in the UK do!
There is a product in Australia (Pure Wine http://purewine.com.au/; and So2Go in NZ) of which you add one or two drops to wine to neutralise the effects of sulphides (which cause migraine headaches in some people). Is there an equivalent in UK?
Hi Alex,
I’m aware of these products. In fact I had been in touch with the manufacturers/agents for SO2GO to learn a bit more. While it sounded great in principle, having delved into it a bit I have my doubts. It is basically a system for adding a burst of hydrogen peroxide to the wine to react with any free sulphur in there. It doesn’t actually remove these harmful preservatives, it only changes their chemical state. The SO2 becomes H2SO4 – sulphuric acid. The manufacturers claim that it reacts with most of the free S02 in the wine, but if you have a sulphite allergy which could trigger a potentially fatal reaction. you would probably want a little more reassurance than that.
My major reservation though is that very few people understand the sulphite allergy, including the people behind this “pure wine” system. Adding diluted bleach doesn’t make the wine pure at all, it just changes the chemical state of the additives. No doubt they are expert chemists, but I’ve yet to meet a doctor or winemaker anywhere who understands the sulphite allergy anywhere near completely.
Having read the website for these drops it’s clear to me these chemists don’t understand it either. They are also confusing the sulphite allergy with the hangover & headache aspect of heavily preserved wines. These are two completely separate issues, the allergy triggered by the free sulphur, the hangover by the bound sulphur – this system actually increases the bound sulphur content so I don’t see how it can stop the hangovers. Also, the free sulphur is made up of two forms, molecular S02 and the bisulphite, which exist in different quantities depending on the acidity and temperature of the wine. In general the molecular SO2 is around 5% of the total free sulphur and it is ONLY THIS that acts as an antioxidant. The bisulphite does not. Which form of free sulphur are these drops converting?
I’m pleased to see such an invention done for the right reasons. But there is a danger that the marketing angle could seriously mislead people. They may be mistaken and believe that they can safely drink wines with a high level of preservatives simply by treating it with this product first. These preservatives cause all sorts of other medical problems, not just a headache or hangover. They’ve been very strongly linked to stomach and throat cancer as well as asthma.
The safest option is to drink good wines produced without high levels of preservatives in the first place – then there is no danger. While this product does have a place in the market, you can achieve a very similar result simply by dropping an ice cube into your glass of wine, as the oxygen in the frozen water will neutralise a portion of the free SO2 in the same way these drops will. Only you will get a harmless sulphide (SO3) rather than sulphuric acid in your glass!
I read the article you refer to and I agree. I realised about 5 years ago that I react to sulphites. For many years before that I couldn’t understand why the inside of my mouth was itchy, my throat permanently red, my tongue swollen and I had difficulty talking properly. I tried my GP but he dismissed it as nothing to worry about. I only discovered it was something to do with what I ate and drank one day when I was rushing around so much I didnt have time to eat and only drank water – I felt ‘clear’ no itch no swelling. It took me years of eliminating different types of food and drink from my diet until I found out it was sulphites. I avoid processed factory food and read labels very carefully. I was disappointed when wine labels started appearing saying contains sulphites. The latest news about alcohol and mouth cancer made me wonder is it the alcohol or is it the sulphites and/or the other chemicals in the wine. All the articles Ive seen mention wine and beer but not spirits – I don’t know but are sulphites not used in producing spirits? I am relieved that what I found out for myself is being taken seriously.
Hi Laura,
Spirits don’t need anywhere near the level of preservatives of other drinks because of their high alcohol content, as alcohol is a powerful anti oxidant in itself. However, cheap spirits such as supermarket own brand and the ones you find in cheap pubs are perhaps even worse than cheap wine. They’re made at rock bottom cost and most aren’t even distilled from fruit but are just a concoction of different artificial chemicals. These can be extremely bad for people. There’s also a lot of counterfeit spirits about at present due to the recession, some masquerading as branded spirits. These are made from industrial alcohol and will blind people or worse!
I recommend drinking good sulphite free wine, as it’s actually very beneficial to health, and nobody counterfeits it!