There is some evidence that drinking alcoholic beverages, but not the traditional mix of gin and tonic, might worsen hay fever symptoms. If you suffer from a pollen allergy, it is recommended that you choose a long drink rather than beer or red wine since it will be less irritating to your system. So, let’s raise a glass to that, shall we?
It’s been hypothesized that consuming anything that takes a while might assist in alleviating the symptoms of hay fever. Because of this, the quantity of joy that may be experienced throughout the spring and summer seasons is increased by a factor of two, which is very helpful for those who have problems with pollen allergies.
Hay Fever And Alcohol Don’t Get Along Well
When pollen levels are high in the environment, allergy sufferers often experience feelings of tiredness, which is especially common during the spring and summer months. The symptoms include headache discomfort, watery eyes, a scratchy throat, and a runny or stuffy nose. The once-beautiful weather has turned into a living nightmare, and the forecast doesn’t seem much better.
Because drinking alcohol is known to make symptoms worse, medical practitioners highly recommend that patients abstain from drinking alcohol during this time. It is suggested that those who suffer from pollen allergies steer clear of alcoholic beverages, particularly beer and red wine.
However, this is not so much owing to the alcohol as it is due to the histamines that are created during the process of producing the beverage mixed with yeast and bacteria. These histamines are what cause the reaction.
The symptoms of hay fever are brought on by the body’s increased production of histamine, which is brought on when the body comes into contact with pollen, which leads the body to produce more histamine. People who are allergic to a variety of substances do not need any more histamine in their bodies.
But there is one drink in particular that stands out as an exception and very seldom adds to problems: gin and tonic. This combination of beverages is the exception that proves the rule.
Why Are Gin And Tonic The Exception?
75% percent of people who participated in a study and had asthma or allergies and were questioned about it reported that consuming alcohol made their symptoms worse. These results were based on the conclusions of the study. Because of the large concentrations of histamines and sulfites that are found in dark and fermented drinks, they are the primary source of the problem.
According to the results of the research conducted by the Asthma UK specialists, clear alcohols like gin and vodka nearly never create complications like these.
Gin in particular is typically sulfite-free or contains only trace amounts of sulfite, and over the past few years, an increasing number of vodka producers have made it a point to keep sulfite levels as low as they possibly can be. Gin in particular is often sulfite-free or contains only trace amounts of sulfite.
Because of this, if you have an allergy to pollen but do not want to give up drinking alcohol, you should grab yourself a gin and tonic. At the very least, it does not make the symptoms any worse, which is a huge relief since it does nothing to ease them.
If, on the other hand, you are in the mood for a glass of wine, you should make sure that the wine has a sulfite level that is either very low or non-existent.
