As someone who spends way too much time scrolling through the feeds of Instagram wellness bloggers, has more than one friend who rotates between the trendiest elimination diets, and who adopts a fringe diet herself, I've come across a fair share of people avoiding sulfites. This left me to wonder, what are sulfites and should I actually be worried about them?
Sulfites (sulphur dioxide, SO2, a compound made up of sulfur and oxygen) are a naturally-occurring compound found in wine. In addition to being naturally occurring, sulfites are produced in labs and added as a preservative in many foods. Winemakers use sulfites in this way; sulfites preserve the flavor of a wine, allowing it to age without turning to vinegar.
Sulfites are naturally created during fermentation, so even wines labeled as "sulfite-free" have sulfites. Any bottle of wine containing more than 10 parts per million (ppm) of SO2 must be affixed with a "contains sulfites" label, so you can effectively consider the "sulfite-free" label to mean "no added sulfites." In the United States the legal limit for sulfites is 350 ppm, with most wines ranging between 30-120 ppm. The maximum for US organic certified wines is 100 ppm.
Sulfites are anecdotally accused of causing headaches, but there haven't been scientific studies that back this up. One 2014 study did not find a decreased prevalence of headaches in those who drank organic low-sulfite wines when compared to those who drank traditional wines. If you get a headache from wine, it most likely has to do with dehydration or the quantity of wine consumed, not the sulfite content.
Lastly, the level of sulfites in other common foods far exceeds those in wine. Dried fruits sometimes reach sulfite levels of over 1,000 ppm. Other foods with higher sulfite content include chips, french fries, and pickles.
If you're really worried about sulfites, instead of buying an $80 sulfite remover, just choose a chocolate chip cookie over an oatmeal raisin one.
Sources:
https://www.bonappetit.com/drinks/wine/article/sulfite-free-wine
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/myths-about-sulfites-and-wine/
https://www.wired.com/2015/06/wine-sulfites-fine-heres-remove-anyway/
https://www.decanter.com/learn/wine-terminology/sulfites-in-wine-friend-or-foe-295931/
https://www.thekitchn.com/the-truth-about-sulfites-in-wine-myths-of-red-wine-headaches-100878
https://www.shape.com/healthy-eating/healthy-drinks/are-sulfites-wine-bad-your-health
Great note that "the level in sulfites in other common foods far exceeds wine!"
ReplyDeleteAfter hearing the question during the Greece presentation yesterday asking if Greek wines cause less headaches due to having less sulfites, I found myself interested to learn more.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was home over the holidays, my mom brought a wine filter to dinner one night called The Wand. It's basically a single use filter that you put in your glass of wine which has absorption technology that is said to be proven to selectively filter histamines and sulfites without changing the taste, aroma or color of wine.
While I've been mostly fortunate to not have had headaches when drinking wine, that's definitely not the case for my mom who usually limits herself to one glass to avoid having headaches the next morning. To date, this product has been working for her and allowing her to drink without headaches so I was surprised to see the study above finding no significant differences in the effects of drinking low vs high-sulfite wines. Maybe it's a placebo effect?