How happy hour affects calorie intake

The routine of enjoying a drink after work is not unusual for many people looking to relax and unwind after a long day, but people may want to think twice about their before-dinner drink if they are trying to maintain healthy diet.

A recent study linked alcohol consumption before dinner with a larger meal being consumed. Study participants received an infusion of alcohol one day and the other day a saline solution. After each infusion, they were provided lunch. Two-thirds of the group ate a larger meal after the alcohol infusion, but only one-third ate more after the saline infusion.

For some, alcohol causes the hypothalamus, a control center in the brain for temperature, mood and hunger, to become more alert and responsive to food aromas, researchers said. Alcohol is just one of the many factors that could potentially influence appetite regulation, but different factors affect everyone differently.

Knowing what triggers mindless and unhealthy eating can help a person maintain healthy eating habits, physicians say.

Dr. Jean Shlyak, an internal medicine physician at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Ill. who also heads a metabolic clinic, recommends not consuming alcohol independent of a meal and avoiding alcohol in the middle of the day.

“There are numerous hormonal cycles occurring at various times of the day which, among other things, influence our energy levels and our desire for food, says Dr. Shlyak. “Concurrently, neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine and Gamma-aminobutyric acid, which regulate many of the body’s basic functions including cravings and satiety, are also at work.”

Alcohol consumption, even short-term, can have a disruptive influence on hormonal cycles and neurotransmitter function, and in many people can cause an unwitting increase in food intake, Dr. Shlyak says. Such effects tend to be more pronounced when alcohol in consumed before evening and prior to as opposed to during a substantive meal.

The next time a person goes to grab a beer with his or her co-workers or pour a glass of wine while preparing dinner, consider letting the body determine how hungry it truly is and wait until after the appetizer to take a sip, she says.