A recent press article on Good Health highlighted the role sulphites can play in causing issues for asthma sufferers. Sulphites are chemicals that are added to wine to preserve it and prevent bacteria growing. Mention was made regarding about a third of 366 asthmatics who took part in a study in 2000 at the Asthma and Allergy Research Institute in Perth, Western Australia reporting that alcohol had triggered at least two mild to moderate attacks, and that wine was the most common reason for this. In the UK, Margaret Kelman, a specialist allergy nurse with Allergy UK stated that there had been a significant increase in wine drinkers reporting sulphite allergy in recent years. Adding 'Around two percent of the "normal" population have a sulphite allergy but around 15 per cent of asthmatics find sulphites constrict their airways. It can be immediate but most often the airways start to contract after the wine hits the stomach.
It seems that general awareness on how sulphites in alcohol can cause asthma is very low. If you are an asthma sufferer stick more to red than white as white wine contains higher levels. The grape skins in red act as a natural preservative so fewer sulphites are needed. Non organic white wine has around 100mg of sulphites per litre. Red around 50 - 75g. It appears that prosecco has the lowest level of sulphites in mass produced wine.
It's all about how wine is produced and organic wine does not contain additional sulphites to preserve it which may be the best option or if you delve deeper there are sulphite free wines out there. Distilled drinks such as Gin and Vodka do not contain sulphites.
