(PressHerald) - It's not the sulfites and it's not the color, but alcohol content and additives in mass-produced brands could be culprits.

After “What’s your favorite?” and “Why do some cost more than others?” the questions about wine I most frequently get asked concern headaches. Why do I get them, and what can I do to avoid them?

Actually, more often these questions are framed as assertions: I can only drink wines without sulfites because sulfites give me headaches. Red wine gives me headaches. The only wines I can drink without getting headaches are certified organic.

With rare exceptions, such lone-factor claims are erroneous. There is no single reason a particular person might experience headaches after drinking wine, unless there was a distinct whack on the skull or some other obvious cause. A headache is usually a complicated nexus of factors unique to the headache-holder. We can investigate possible factors, but a static conclusion is likely to remain out of reach.

I personally do not get headaches from drinking wine. Therefore, everything I say here remains in the realm of the theoretical. But with a decent combination of information, experimentation and self-study, those who do get headaches might find ways to reduce their likelihood.

The self-study part is especially important. Self-study, self-curiosity, self-questioning are all not only crucial to a lasting appreciation of wine – or of anything important – they are ultimately why trying to appreciate wine holds any value whatsoever.

If you get headaches from drinking wine, I’m very, very sorry. And I hope even a tiny bit of what you find in the rest of this column can help. Perhaps the spirit of self-study, since it animates the deepening of love for wine just as it might animate a better understanding of how to consume it salubriously, can unite us all.

So here’s where I’ll start: Wine ought to be drunk with an intention of maintaining health. Health exists on physical, physiological, neurological, psychological, emotional, social and cultural levels. Wine can contribute to health along all these planes. It can also damage health along all of them.

I’m aware of a handful of factors that might be responsible for causing headaches, but I’m more familiar with the ways one can promote health and thereby prevent or minimize headaches. Building health ought to go hand in hand with preventing illness.

Of course, headaches aren’t the only, or the worst, ill effects of wine consumption. Besides the debilitating consequences of alcoholism itself, some people experience allergies and intolerances, even some forms of cancer.

On the positive side, moderate alcohol consumption is – or is hypothesized to be – beneficial to physiological health, through less coronary heart disease, kidney and prostate cancer, fewer ulcers and improved cognitive health, including reducing the development of dementia. Add to these topics the emotional, social and cultural health pros and cons, and we could talk all night – but they are beyond the capacity for today’s column to explore.

So let’s return to headaches, and dispense with a couple of false culprits. Sulfites are not causing your headaches. There are far more sulfites, by factors in the dozens, in everything from canned tuna to orange juice to dried fruit and potato chips than in the most over-sulfited wine ever made. Sulfites occur naturally during fermentation, but are also added as an anti-oxidative to most wines, either during fermentation or just before bottling, or both.

Sulfites are a complex topic unto themselves, but I like to stick with wines where they are added just once, just before bottling, in minimal amounts (under 20 milligrams per liter).

Nor are tannins responsible for headaches. Tannins are found in the skins, stems and seeds of grapes, and in the wood used to age some wines. Tannins, at levels comparable to or above those in wine, are found in nuts, chocolate, tea, beans, berries and more. Unless your diet is extremely restricted or you get headaches every day, tannins are not to blame.

The most obvious headache-causing factor in wine, for everyone, is alcohol. Sorry, but there’s no way around this. The more alcohol you consume, the greater your risk of a headache. As alcohol breaks down in the body, it produces acetaldehyde, which along with the alcohol travels from your blood to your brain and spinal cord fluids. There, they irritate the brain tissues, which you experience as a headache.

Reduce the effects by drinking less wine, drinking wine with less alcohol (even half a percentage point is significant), drinking more water alongside the wine, eating food as you drink. Obvious.