# Beer Allergies?



## bconnery (20/10/06)

A mate of mine at work suffers badly from sinus/hayfever issues. 

He finds that certain beers, such as Carlton Mid (I know, but let's just leave it...), seem to trigger his allergies more than most and was asking me if I had any ideas as to why that would be?



I was wondering whether beers with flower vs pellets hops could be the answer? Different malts?

Not really sure at all so I thought I'd throw it out there and see if anyone had any ideas.

What he particularly wants is to try and be able to know what beers to avoid so he can adjust buying habits accordingly...

I'd suggest better beers straight off but there's no guarentee of course that this is the answer...


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## Stuster (20/10/06)

Just an idea, but it could be sulphites. Does he react to some wines as well?

If it's that, HB is the best answer. :super:


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## colinw (20/10/06)

Depends what he's allergic to.

Very aromatic beers like LCPA and amarillo ales have on occasion triggered my asthma. Quite commonly, by the end of the 2nd stubby of LCPA I will need to take a puff of Bricanyl because I'll be wheezing. Most APAs will do that to me.


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## BlueJ (20/10/06)

It's hard to say what could be causing the problem. In your friend's case the best course of action may be to drink something else...

I have a severe reaction to a particular brand of wine - half a glass is enough to make me sick (full on hangover symptoms) for a day. This is premium wine too, not cheap rotgut. I learnt to recognise the smell of whatever it was in the wine and I just avoid stuff with that smell when I can.

I had a scare recently when I started getting big headaches after drinking one or two of our own brews. I thought I might have to go back to drinking commercial beer! Turns out I react badly to yeast, so now I have to wait for the yeast to settle out before I drink. I just leave the bottles in the fridge for a couple of weeks after carbonation finishes. Kind of makes forward planning essential!


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## goatherder (20/10/06)

I don't know if you could consider it an allergy or not, but I find that most commercial beer and wine will give me headache as part of the hangover the next morning. Some of the nastier flavours (Carlton Draught esp) will cause the headache within an hour or two of having a couple.

Drinking my HB still gives me a hangover but with no sign of the headache whatsoever.

I do suffer from sinus allergies, quite badly sometimes, but never as a result of beer.


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## Justin (20/10/06)

I'll back sulfites as a candidate as well, I know of several people who have a nasty reaction to wines in particular but it is strongly suggested to be the sulfite content. 

However I have also read that histamine can induce hay fever like symptoms in some people and histamine is present in beers in varying concentrations depending on style etc. However the higher the malt content the higher the histamine, so it's likely there isn't any histamine in carlton mid  :lol: -do they use any malt, I thought it was just brown coloured fermented sugar water. 

Interestingly to rebut this statement Sapporo are claiming that infact beer can help relieve hay fever like syptoms:

Sapporo Breweries And Sapporo Beverages Show Sapporo Drinks Alleviate Hay Fever Symptoms

Sapporo Breweries Ltd., and Sapporo Beverages Co., Ltd. have proven that Sapporo beer is effective in mitigating hay fever symptoms. Hop flavonol glycoside extracted from the beer prevents histamine, an allergy-inducing substance. 

Sapporo Group conducted a clinical trial of 20 patients with hay fever symptoms and found that 60% them noted less sneezing and 55% noted less runny nose with significant improvements on their symptom-medication scores. 

Sapporo has filed a patent application based on the effect of beer on hay fever symptoms. Going forward, the Group will explore the affect of beer on atopy and allergy symptoms related to house dust.


As a side note, on occation with some beers I have had flushing feelings and a slight unwell feeling after drinking some of my beers. I was wondering for a while if I was developing a gluten intolerance or allergy to yeast, but I haven't had it for ages so it may have been just one beer in particular. Lot of variable so hard to work out.


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## bugwan (20/10/06)

I've noticed a slight slurring of speech when I drink, but I'm not sure if it has anything to do with histamine.

In rare cases I have exhibited more noticeable symptoms, such as dancing with my arms above my head.

Have another one...


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## colinw (20/10/06)

I've noticed that I develop a voracious appetite for chips & peanuts, as well as becoming talkative & opinionated, but I don't think that counts as an allergy.


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## Justin (20/10/06)

Annoying   but no, not an allergy.

Enjoy the beers tonight boys. :chug:


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## benno1973 (20/10/06)

Preservatives in wines and beers can cause allergic reactions in some people. A few years ago, I worked on a study testing asthma sufferers with preservative free wines. I can't remember the outcome, but it was pretty much a given that sulphites (additive E220 isn't it?) can trigger allergic reactions in some people, manifesting itself in either a wheeze of hayfever like symptoms. 

Does your friend get the same symptoms when drinking wine? It might be an interesting experiment to see the difference in reaction when drinking a wine with preservative in it, and a wine without. 

Apart from that, histamines can definitely cause hayfever-like sympotms, as well as asthma. Try taking an antihistamine before a big night out on the mid. Or perhaps try drinking better beer


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## DrewCarey82 (20/10/06)

bugwan said:


> I've noticed a slight slurring of speech when I drink, but I'm not sure if it has anything to do with histamine.



That cracked me up, isnt that part and parcel?


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## InCider (20/10/06)

Kaiser Soze said:


> Preservatives in wines and beers can cause allergic reactions in some people. A few years ago, I worked on a study testing asthma sufferers with preservative free wines. I can't remember the outcome, but it was pretty much a given that sulphites (additive E220 isn't it?) can trigger allergic reactions in some people, manifesting itself in either a wheeze of hayfever like symptoms.



220 it is i'm sure. A friend of mine explained it to me when I would reach for the sudafed everytime her husband gave me a glass of red wine... some reds are ok some are dreadful. Price has nothing to do with it.

Sometimes when I have barbed wire (XXXX), I get a bit of sinus then too.

So I have to (poor me  ) drink my lovely HB!

InCider


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## barls (20/10/06)

i have the allergy to 220 but for me its the headache like ive been on a 4 month binge the next day that i get and my mum is the same. oh all the beers i find that tiger is the worst


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## sinkas (20/10/06)

I doubt consuming histamine will cause a allergic response, you are welcome to show me how its could occur, but I can't see it getting into the system and casuing and psudo immunological effect..
As we all well know, beer is not required to have full labelling of all ingredients, so your mate could be allergic to Carlton Mids secret ingredient, horse shit, ofcourse the easiest way to combat it, is to move to another beer.
On another note, hops are quite capable of causing allergy, 
Moreover, does justing have a refernce for that Saporro article? Id like to check it out.

Sorry about the spelling, got a real headache


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## Justin (20/10/06)

Plenty of evidence for the above suggestions. Scroll to the bottom for the Sapporo stuff.

If you search PubMed you'll find plenty of relevant peer reviewed literature discussing histamine induced allergic syptoms from histamine in alcoholic beverages. Here's the link for Pubmed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?DB=pubmed

Here's a snipit of one:

_Addict Biol. 2003 Mar;8(1):3-11. Links 
*Allergic and asthmatic reactions to alcoholic drinks.*
Vally H, Thompson PJ. 
Department of Health, The University of Western Australia, Western Australia. [email protected]

Alcoholic drinks are capable of triggering a wide range of allergic and allergic-like responses, including rhinitis, itching, facial swelling, headache, cough and asthma. Limited epidemiological data suggests that many individuals are affected and that sensitivities occur to a variety of drinks, including wine, beer and spirits. In surveys of asthmatics, over 40% reported the triggering of allergic or allergic-like symptoms following alcoholic drink consumption and 30 - 35% reported worsening of their asthma. Sensitivity to ethanol itself can play a role in triggering adverse responses, particularly in Asians, which is due mainly to a reduced capacity to metabolize acetaldehyde. In Caucasians, specific non-alcohol components are the main cause of sensitivities to alcoholic drinks. Allergic sensitivities to specific components of beer, spirits and distilled liquors have been described. Wine is clearly the most commonly reported trigger for adverse responses. Sensitivities to wine appear to be due mainly to pharmacological intolerances to specific components, such as biogenic amines and the sulphite additives. Histamine in wine has been associated with the triggering of a wide spectrum of adverse symptoms, including sneezing, rhinitis, itching, flushing, headache and asthma. The sulphite additives in wine have been associated with triggering asthmatic responses. Clinical studies have confirmed sensitivities to the sulphites in wine in limited numbers of individuals, but the extent to which the sulphites contribute to wine sensitivity overall is not clear. The aetiology of wine-induced asthmatic responses may be complex and may involve several co-factors.

PMID: 12745410 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]_

*A link to another specifically assessing histamine triggering asthma from alcoholic beverages*: 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.f...l=pubmed_docsum

*Another on histamine in alcoholic drinks and adverse reactions*: Quoting "_Histamine levels ranged from 3-120 micrograms/l in white wines; 15-670 micrograms/l in champagnes; 60-3800 micrograms/l in red wines; and 21-305 micrograms/l in beers. Histamine is causing wine intolerance. Patients intolerant to wine seem to have diminished histamine degradation probably based on a deficiency of diamine oxidase_." Taken from here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.f...l=pubmed_docsum

I agree the *Sapporo stuff  * is not brilliant science by the sound of it (ie. very small sample size of only 20 patients and the study sounds brewery funded-ie. they only found it in their beer). Unfortunately I can't seem to track down the original and full article (link appears boken) however there appears to be evidence in the litterature supporting a role for hops in minimising allergic responses. Sapporo stuff: http://richardgpettymd.blogs.com/my_weblog...gies/index.html (scroll down the page a little).

*I basically think they have referenced and based their study on this finding. Here's an interesting one talking about the ability of hops to reduce the release of histamine from mast cells in BALB/c mice:*

*Effects of hop extracts on nasal rubbing and sneezing in BALB/c mice.*
Biol Pharm Bull. 2006 Apr;29(4):689-92.
Takubo M, Inoue T, Jiang S, Tsumuro T, Ueda Y, Yatsuzuka R, Segawa S, Watari J, Kamei C.

Department of Medicinal Pharmacology, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Japan.

The effects of hop extracts (Humulus lupulus L.) on histamine release from rat peritoneal mast cells and human basophilic KU812 cells were studied. Hop water extract (HWE) and XAD-4 50% methanol fraction of HWE (MFH) inhibited histamine release from rat mast cells induced by compound 48/80 at concentrations of 100 and 10 mug/ml, respectively. Almost the same findings were observed with A23187-induced histamine release from KU812 cells. Next, we studied the effects of hop extracts on antigen-induced nasal rubbing and sneezing in sensitized BALB/c mice. HWE caused a significant inhibition of nasal rubbing and sneezing at a dose of 500 mg/kg. MFH also inhibited nasal rubbing and sneezing dose-dependently. A significant difference was observed from 100 mg/kg in nasal rubbing and 200 mg/kg in sneezing. The effects of both extracts became clear after repeated administration. HWE and MFH significantly inhibited both nasal rubbing and sneezing, respectively, after consecutive treatment for 15 d at smaller doses compared with single administration. This finding indicates that the active component of hop is included in MFH, which was absorbed to Amberlite XAD-4 and eluted with 50% methanol. These results clearly demonstrated that hop extracts may be effective in the relief of symptoms of allergic rhinitis.

PMID: 16595900 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] 

All the breast. (.)(.)
Cheers, Justin


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