They even grabbed cafeteria trays and a detached car hood to take advantage of that unusual winter storm. And 241 of them ended up in ERs, accounting for more than one out of 10 visits during the period studied. Three dozen of the patients had to be hospitalized, and 18 had to have surgery. Fortunately, no one died, but one person was left a paraplegic. They don't call it an aperitif for nothing, say researchers from Masstricht University in The Netherlands in the latest issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition .
Protein is known to satisfy hunger the best, followed by carbohydrate and fat.
But, despite the meaning of aperitif, the Dutch researchers write, not much is known about alcohol's effects on hunger, satiety and subsequent food intake. Previous studies yielded conflicting results. Some have shown that the more alcohol you drink, the fatter you'll get, while others have shown that adding alcohol to the diet doesn't result in any additional weight gain. The Dutch scientists found that their subjects tended to eat bigger lunches after drinking wine or beer than after consuming any of the fruit drinks. Maybe the relatively sweet taste of the juices inhibited further food intake, they speculate.