Jeez, I totally would have signed up for this study! How much more pizza and garlic bread do you eat if you drink a half bottle of wine before lunch? What if you have some of the wine before and some of it during your meal? It's science to the rescue!
The results of a study detailed in Discover showed that people who drink a 375ml bottle of wine, the Calloway Crossing Cabernet Sauvignon-Shiraz, before lunch (quaintly called an "aperitif") ate 25 percent more of a "two-course lunch of garlic bread and Kraft pizza" compared to those who eschewed vino. My first thoughts on reading this were, "How about a nice late-morning sparkling wine?" and "What, they couldn't bring in a brick oven to make some Neapolitan-style pizza?"
And those who just sipped a little bit of that wine pre-meal (one-third) and the balance with the food, how did they fare? (This style of eating/drinking was called "co-ingestion", which has significantly less charm than "aperitif".) They fared slightly better, only increasing their caloric intake by 22 percent. Scientists conclusions? "In particular, intake of the starter was enhanced by wine consumption. Having wine as an aperitif significantly influenced subjective ratings of light headedness and fatigue. These results suggest that the effects of wine on appetite are immediate, and stimulate food intake early in the meal."
I look forward to Kraft cross-promoting wine and pizza (plus garlic bread).
