Ever wonder why you feel magnetically drawn to pizza when you've had a few too many? You're certainly not alone. Time and again, scientific studies have shown an unfortunate phenomenon called the "aperitif effect," or a tendency to eat more food after drinking alcohol. The reason why this happens has long been a mystery, but a new study in the journal Obesity suggests that our brain’s feeding centers may become more sensitive to foods’ enticing properties. (Looking for more health news?
In the study, researchers recruited 35 women to receive an alcohol infusion into their bloodstream equaling 2 to 2.5 drinks. Then, the women were asked to take a whiff of different food aromas while undergoing MRI brain scans. Later, they were offered a meal, and researchers recorded how much they ate. Each participant repeated the entire experiment using a saline infusion as a control.
Yet again, the "aperitif effect" reared its ugly head: The alcohol infusion caused the women to eat as much as 30% more food, compared with the saline infusion. But the brain scans showed something interesting: Being mildly intoxicated made the women's brains more sensitive to food aromas—possibly spurring them to eat more. Specifically, smelling food resulted in increased brain activity in the hypothalamus, a complex brain structure involved in metabolism and appetite that is connected to other parts of the brain's reward systems.
The hypothalamus is composed of many different clusters of brain cells, some of which appear to increase how much we eat, while others appear to decrease how much we eat, explains lead author David Kareken, PhD, a professor and director of neuropsychology at Indiana University School of Medicine. The hypothalamus could therefore play an important role in the way alcohol alters our reaction to foods' temptations.
From a small study like this, unfortunately, researchers can't draw any sweeping conclusions, but that doesn't mean you can't be better prepared for your next happy hour: Stick to one drink (research shows that kind of moderate intake can actually be good for you!) and know that any amount of intoxication is likely to make food seem more enticing—in fact, it may be better to save your cocktail for after you've had a full meal.
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