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Sulfites have been said to cause adverse reactions in some wine drinkers, but a recent research paper by Sophie Parker-Thomson argues that bottlings made without added sulfites might be more apt to generate symptoms like headaches or watery eyes.
Instead of sulfites, Parker-Thomson writes, the culprit is more likely to be a group of compounds called biogenic amines (BA).
Present in all fermented food and drink, biogenic amines increase with food spoilage. They’re produced from amino acids via enzymic activity in living organisms like microbes, most often a subset of bacteria. The best-known biogenic amine, histamine, is produced when microbes remove carbon dioxide from the amino acid histidine.