BERKELEY, California: The effects are all too familiar: a fancy dinner, some fine wine and then, a few hours later, a racing heart and a pounding headache. But a device developed by University of California, Berkeley, researchers could help avoid the dreaded "red wine headache".

Chemists working with Nasa-funded technology designed to find life on Mars have created a device they say can easily detect chemicals that many scientists believe can turn wine and other beloved indulgences into ingredients for agony.

The chemicals, called biogenic amines, occur naturally in a wide variety of aged, pickled and fermented foods prized by gourmet palates, including wine, chocolate, cheese, olives, nuts and cured meats.

"The food you eat is so unbelievably coupled with your body's chemistry," said Richard Mathies, who described his new technology in an article published on Thursday in the journal 'Analytical Chemistry'.

The detector could prove useful to those with amine sensitivity, said Beverly McCabe, a clinical dietician. The prototype -- the size of a small briefcase -- uses a drop of wine to determine amine levels in five minutes, Mathies said. A start up company he co-founded is working to create a smaller device the size of a personal digital assistant that people could take to restaurants and test their favourite wines.