Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Oct 17;1(1):10.
doi: 10.1186/2045-7022-1-10.

Risk of allergic reactions to wine, in milk, egg and fish-allergic patients

Emilia Vassilopoulou  1 , Athanassios Karathanos, George Siragakis, Stavroula Giavi, Athanassios Sinaniotis, Nikolaos Douladiris, Montserrat Fernandez-Rivas, Michael Clausen, Nikolaos G Papadopoulos
Affiliations

Risk of allergic reactions to wine, in milk, egg and fish-allergic patients

Emilia Vassilopoulou et al. Clin Transl Allergy. .

Abstract

Background: European legislators and wine producers still debate on the requirement for labeling of wines fined with potentially allergenic food proteins (casein, egg white or fish-derived isinglass). We investigated whether wines fined with known concentrations of these proteins have the potential to provoke clinical allergic reactions in relevant patients.

Methods: In-house wines were produced for the study, fined with different concentrations of casein (n = 7), egg albumin (n = 1) and isinglass (n = 3). ELISA and PCR kits specific for the respective proteins were used to identify the fining agents. Skin prick tests and basophil activation tests were performed in patients with confirmed IgE-mediated relevant food allergies (n = 24). A wine consumption questionnaire and detailed history on possible reactions to wine was obtained in a multinational cohort of milk, egg or fish allergic patients (n = 53) and patients allergic to irrelevant foods as controls (n = 13).

Results: Fining agents were not detectable in wines with the available laboratory methods. Nevertheless, positive skin prick test reactions and basophil activation to the relevant wines were observed in the majority of patients with allergy to milk, egg or fish, correlating with the concentration of the fining agent. Among patients consuming wine, reported reactions were few and mild and similar with the ones reported from the control group.

Conclusion: Casein, isinglass or egg, remaining in traces in wine after fining, present a very low risk for the respective food allergic consumers. Physician and patient awareness campaigns may be more suitable than generalized labeling to address this issue, as the latter may have negative impact on both non-allergic and allergic consumers.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Vassilopoulou E, Zuidmeer L, Akkerdaas J, Tassios I, Rigby NR, Mills EN, van Ree R, Saxoni-Papageorgiou P, Papadopoulos NG. Severe immediate allergic reactions to grapes: part of a lipid transfer protein-associated clinical syndrome. Int Arch Allergy Immunol. 2007;143(2):92–102. doi: 10.1159/000098657. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Vally H, Thompson PJ. Allergic and asthmatic reactions to alcoholic drinks. Addict Biol. 2003;8(1):3–11. doi: 10.1080/1355621031000069828. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Vally H, Thompson PJ, Misso NL. Changes in bronchial hyperresponsiveness following high- and low-sulphite wine challenges in wine-sensitive asthmatic patients. Clin Exp Allergy. 2007;37(7):1062–1066. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2222.2007.02747.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Rolland JM, Apostolou E, Deckert K, de Leon MP, Douglass JA, Glaspole IN, Bailey M, Stockley CS, O'Hehir RE. Potential food allergens in wine: Double-blind, placebo-controlled trial and basophil activation analysis. Nutrition. 2006;22(9):882–888. doi: 10.1016/j.nut.2006.06.002. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Humieres J, Wal JM. EU regulation: what's new in terms of labelling of food allergens? Allergy. 2004;59(12):1259–1261. doi: 10.1111/j.1398-9995.2004.00618.x. - DOI - PubMed