Scientists continue to uncover fascinating details about beer and wine, even though people have been brewing and fermenting these beverages for thousands of years.
In a series of new studies, researchers explored what gives beer its haze, how to detect gluten in drinks, what causes red wine’s dry, puckering sensation, and how sulfites influence gut bacteria. Their findings, published in ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, reveal surprising chemistry behind two of the world’s oldest drinks.
1. Yeast extracts add haze to lager beer.
Hazy beers have become increasingly popular, admired for their cloudy look and rich texture. This haziness usually results from tiny suspended particles that form when barley proteins bind with hop polyphenols. To find another way to create this visual effect, researchers tested yeast extracts in two brands of clear lager. When added, the extracts made the beers noticeably cloudy.
The team discovered that ribonucleic acids (RNA) in the yeast extracts interacted with proteins in the beer to produce the haze. According to the researchers, yeast RNA could be used as an alternative tool for controlling a beer’s haziness to achieve a desired visual appeal.
2. Lateral flow test detects gluten in beer, food.
For anyone who needs to avoid gluten, knowing whether a drink is truly safe can be difficult. Scientists have developed a new lateral flow strip that can detect gluten in both foods and beverages with remarkable precision. The device can sense gluten concentrations ranging from 0 to more than 20 parts per million (ppm). It displays results using three lines that correspond to four gluten ranges, all below the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s gluten-free limit (20 ppm).
The test delivers results in under three minutes and demonstrated 98% accuracy in trials. When tested on real-world samples—including foods labeled as gluten-free and a standard gluten-containing beer—the strip proved both fast and dependable.
3. Tannins in red wine make you pucker.
A small but insightful study recently investigated why red wine often produces a dry, tightening feeling in the mouth. This sensation, known as astringency, increases with the amount of tannins in the wine. A trained panel of tasters confirmed that wines with higher tannin levels felt more drying.
The research team found that tannins influence water flow through microscopic aquaporin channels in the tongue and salivary glands, allowing more water to escape than reenter. This imbalance leaves the mouth feeling dry. The discovery sheds light on how tannins shape the sensory experience of red wine and adds to the broader understanding of how people perceive flavor and texture in beverages.
4. Wine sulfites change the gut microbiome.
Sulfites are commonly added to wine to preserve its freshness and prevent spoilage, but they can also cause headaches or digestive discomfort in some people. To understand why, researchers examined how sulfites affect gut microbes under laboratory conditions. They simulated human digestion using a three-stage system and compared results from both wine and an ethanol-based control liquid.
After digestion, the samples containing sulfites showed reduced levels of certain beneficial bacteria and higher levels of bacteria linked to potential negative health effects. However, these shifts were less pronounced in actual wine samples. The team believes that natural compounds in wine, such as polyphenols, may help protect against some of sulfites’ disruptive effects on the gut.
References:
- “Yeast RNA–Protein Interactions Generate Beer Haze” by Esben Due Yding, Olivier Caille, Yves Gosselin and Mogens L. Andersen, 22 July 2025, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.5c03980 - “Empowering Gliadin Detection: A Visible-Code Semiquantitative Lateral Flow System for Rapid and Reliable Results” by Wen-Hao Chen, Jill Christiansen Smith, Seaton Smith, Hui-Yin Huang, Chester Yuh-Cherng Chu, Yuen-Yee Choi, Yuyu Chen, Huan-Chi Chang, Chuan-Chih Hsu and Yu-Cheng Hsiao, 11 September 2025, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.5c07872 - “Empowering Gliadin Detection: A Visible-Code Semiquantitative Lateral Flow System for Rapid and Reliable Results” by Wen-Hao Chen, Jill Christiansen Smith, Seaton Smith, Hui-Yin Huang, Chester Yuh-Cherng Chu, Yuen-Yee Choi, Yuyu Chen, Huan-Chi Chang, Chuan-Chih Hsu and Yu-Cheng Hsiao, 11 September 2025, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.5c07872 - “May Sulfites in Wine Affect Gut Microbiota? An In Vitro Study of Their Digestion and Interplay with Wine Polyphenols” by Edgard Relaño de la Guía, Carolina Cueva, Natalia Molinero, Ana Ruano, M. José Motilva, Begoña Bartolomé and M. Victoria Moreno-Arribas, 23 July 2025, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.5c02710
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3 Comments
Choice is the answer to each of these 4 surveys. I chose what I will drink or not. Anyone with health issues will use the same choices and criteria.
I had already learned that there are zero health benefits to drinking alcohol. After that, no other finding about alcoholic beverages can dismay me any more, so this article is unimpressive at best. As Mr. Gerdsen above me commented, we now choose whether to drink or not, without having to pretend it’s good for us.
Ah, great great great…puckering sensation, haze, gluten detection, sulfites, yep yep, great info. BUT you left out how alcohol is a carcinogen. If that doesn’t change how you drink, nothing will.