Allergic to wine? Scientists know why

Eight percent of people have wine allergies. (I didn't even realize you could be allergic to wine.)

Sadly, wine lovers can get the sniffles and headaches from their drink of choice.

While sulfites are a common allergic substance, it only explains one percent of the allergies.

The other seven percent could be caused by glycoproteins, which are proteins coated with sugars produced when grapes ferment.

Researchers at the University of Southern Denmark found 28 glycoproteins in Italian chardonnay that caused allergies. Glycoproteins are proteins that have a similar structures to known allergens. Some of the proteins are the ones that cause an allergic reaction to latex, for instance.

Knowing what to blame for stuffy noses and the headaches is a start. With 40 million people supposedly allergic to wine, I wouldn't be surprised to see the allergy-free wine labels popping up in liquor stores sometime in the future. But first, wine-makers have to figure out how to refine their wine-making process before these low-allergenic vintages hit the shelves.

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com