Natural wine helps against hangovers. Fact or fiction?
Natural wine is fortunately becoming more and more popular among wine drinkers. We want sustainable, organic and as few additives as possible in our food, including our wines. But will this also help against our hangovers the next day? Below is an explanation to what extent this rumour is true.
What is natural wine in short?
Natural wine is wine that is guided by nature as much as possible in the vineyards. No chemicals are sprayed to keep the enemy away, but work is done naturally. Think of an enemy, for the enemy. A cycle that does all the work in the vineyards. Extra trees, animals and insects. Nature feeds nature.
In addition, no chemicals are added in the cellar. Wine is fermented by wild yeasts, it is not filtered and no sulphites are added. At least a maximum of 30 mg. Sulphites are a collective name for substances that contain sulphur. Sulphites help the wine against bacteria and ensure that the wine can be kept longer. The wine also naturally contains sulphites, which are created during the fermentation process. Wines without sulphites do not exist.
Normally there is about 150 mg sulfite in the wine. A maximum of 350 mg sulfite per liter may be added, which is a lot more sulfite than natural wine.
Breakdown of alcohol
In order to answer the above question it is important to look at how the body processes certain substances. These specific substances are alcohol (Ethanol) and Sulfite (Sulphur).
Alcohol is absorbed into the body through the stomach and travels down a path to the liver. There, enzymes take over for the breakdown of alcohol. Enzymes are proteins in the body that can cause a chemical reaction to take place. Enzymes ensure that substances are converted into other substances, so that the final substance can be easily broken down by the body.
A total of two enzymes play a role in the breakdown of alcohol. The first ADH enzyme converts alcohol into acetaldehyde. The substance acetaldehyde is 10-30 times more toxic than alcohol. This must still be converted into acetate by the ADHL enzyme in order to be broken down by the body. The ADHL enzyme uses a crucial compound called glutathione (antioxidant) to convert this acetaldehyde into acetate. The antioxidant gluathione is a detoxifier that ensures that the ADHL enzyme can convert the toxic substance acetaldehyde into the substance acetate. Sulfites are also substances that are broken down by the body by means of the antioxidant glutathione. Because both sulfite and alcohol enter the body, the gluatathione is doubly affected, which means that the ADHL enzyme can convert the dangerous substance acetaldehyde less quickly. The gluatathione antioxidant is also busy processing sulfites...
Natural wine and hangovers
There are two benefits that natural wine offers over your hangover. Below we explain how and why.
1. The antioxidant gluathione ensures that the ADHL enzyme converts the dangerous substance acetaldehyde into acetate, so that the body can break down acetate. This antioxidant is also necessary for the breakdown of sulfite. The more sulfite you get in your body, the less gluathione is available for the conversion of the dangerous substance acetaldehyde . If you drink wines with extra sulfite, the substance that is more toxic than alcohol remains in your body longer , because gluatathione also has to help process sulfite. This leads to more headaches and nausea. The less sulfite, the easier and faster alcohol is broken down by the body.
2. Natural wine also has the advantage that the metabolism of the ADHL enzyme is enhanced. This allows this ADHL enzyme to convert the toxic substance acetaldehyde faster. So ultimately natural wine leads to less acetaldehyde in the blood, because the metabolism is accelerated by the health benefits that natural wine offers. This ultimately leads to less headaches and less nausea than other wines.
Conclusion
Natural wine contains alcohol. When you drink alcohol, toxic substances are created in the body. These substances are processed much faster than wines to which more sulphites have been added. The antioxidant glutathione is essential in converting the dangerous substance acetaldehyde that is created by alcohol. This antioxidant also helps process sulphites from your body. As a result, the metabolism of acetaldehyde to acetate will be slower, because glutathione also has to process sulphites. This ensures that a toxic substance wanders around in your body for longer than if you drink wine without added sulphites.
In addition, natural wine has health benefits that increase the metabolism of the ADHL enzyme. This converts the more toxic substance acetaldehyde more quickly, so that the toxic substance stays in your body for a shorter time.
So yes, natural wine gives less hangovers, but compared to wine with more sulfite added. Try hard, and you can even get hangovers from natural wine!
