Doctor Explains Why People Feel Grim After Just One Glass Of Wine

A doctor has explained why some people can feel absolutely dreadful after just one glass of wine, while others can sip their way through several glasses with no bother - and it's absolutely nothing to do with being a lightweight.

While loads of us may have knocked back a glass of sparkling wine over the past couple of days, some of us will have been left feeling pretty grim, despite drinking in moderation.

If you've ever started to feel unwell after just one glass of white wine, while you've watched your mates or your family polish off a bottle and wondered why - then one doctor may have an answer.

Speaking to The Daily Mail, Doctor Rubaiyat Haque, an allergy specialist at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in London has said that while allergies to alcohol don't really exist, intolerances to things found in wine can be pretty common.

One of the most common is an intolerance to sulphites, which are used to preserve wine and can causes a bunch of different symptoms such as flushed skin and itchy eyes.

Dr Haque said: "The key here is quantity.

"Sulphite levels are typically very high in wines."

And those levels are higher in white wines than reds - with around twice as many in a dry white compared to a red.

Dr Haque added: "But it could well be many other things in wine that spark symptoms - grape proteins or compounds found in plant skins called tannins, enzymes added to help fermentation, or additives.

"Some people are allergic to the small amount of yeast in wine."

According to The Daily Mail, around seven percent of adults have some intolerance to wine and this intolerance can come on at any point in your life.

So if you've recently noticed you can no longer knock back the vino blanco like you used to, this might be why.

Dr Harque recommends anyone who does experience unusual symptoms after drinking wine to get an allergy test.

Alternatively, there's a more fun way to find out, with the doctor adding: "The best test to find out if you're sulphite intolerant is to drink organic wine, or very low sulphite wine, and see what happens."

Drinking wine in the name of science?

Sounds good to me.

Of course, if you've drunk too much you're going to feel pretty dodgy, whether you opted for white wine, red wine, vodka or crème de menthe - and no amount of blaming it on sulphites is going to help.