For many people, a glass of wine helps make food feel like it's going down more smoothly. But drinking alcohol with a rich and fatty meal causes food to linger in the stomach longer, found a new study -- leading people to feel fuller over a greater period of time.
The findings offer new insight into the complicated and multi-faceted ways that alcohol interacts with digestion and appetite. The study, which analyzed people as they ate cheese fondue, may also help settle a long-standing debate among Europeans about which beverage is best to drink with a popular and festive dish.
"In Switzerland and other parts of Europe, there is a big debate when families get together about what they are going to drink with fondue," said Mark Fox, a gastroenterologist at the Nottingham Digestive Diseases Center in the United Kingdom. He worked on the study while at the University of Zurich.
"Half say you should drink white wine because it dissolves the cheese," he said. "The other half says you should drink warm tea because wine turns the cheese into a solid mass. All are completely old wives' tales."
Fondue-lovers also argue about whether a shot of spirits after the meal will further reduce the discomforts of eating such a rich and gooey dinner.
Previous studies have shown that drinking an alcoholic beverage before a meal increases appetite and causes people to eat a bit more than they would otherwise.
To find out how drinking during and after a meal might add to the story, Fox and colleagues fed a meal of bread and Swiss cheese fondue to 20 healthy adults who hadn't eaten anything for six hours beforehand.
Half of the diners were assigned to sip about 10 ounces of white wine at regular intervals throughout the meal. The other half drank the same volume of black tea at the same intervals. Both groups ate equal amounts of bread and fondue, which was made with Gruyere and Fribourgeois cheeses. The meal contained about 780 calories, 52 grams of protein, 150 milligrams of sodium and 64 grams of fat.
An hour and a half later, half of each group was again chosen at random to drink a shot of cherry schnapps. The other half drank a shot of water. Throughout the meal, the scientists gave diners breath tests that measured a type of weighted carbon and revealed how slowly or quickly their stomachs were churning up the food.
One of the most striking findings, Fox said, was how incredibly slowly the stomach empties a cheese fondue meal, no matter what you drink.
Extrapolating from their measurements, he estimated that it would take six hours for the stomach to completely empty itself in the group that drank tea and water. By comparison, the process of gastric emptying would take nine hours in those who drank both wine and Schnapps.
For the wine-drinkers, the researchers report today in the journal BMJ, digestion slowed along with the first sip. After chugging schnapps, the rate also dropped immediately.
"There's something we call 'cheese baby syndrome,'" Fox said. "You just feel like you're pregnant, like these big lumps of cheese are still sitting in your stomach."
Tea drinking might have had the opposite effect: There is some evidence in rats that tea actually speeds up gastric emptying. But the volume of tea used in this study was so small, Fox said, that he imagines that drinking water would produce the same results.
With their fuller stomachs, the wine-drinkers expressed less interest in eating dessert after the meal than the tea-drinkers did, though there was no difference between groups in how uncomfortable they felt. That suggests, Fox said, that healthy people can probably drink whatever they want with fondue and feel just fine.
For people who are prone to bloating and digestive distress after a rich meal, on the other hand, drinking alcohol with food might help relax the stomach at first, soothing symptoms. As the hours wear on, though, discomfort might be worse than if they had chosen tea or water instead.
It's impossible to say from this study whether drinking alcohol with a meal might affect how much food people eat or how much weight they gain or lose, said Thomas Abell, a gastroenterologist at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson.
Instead, the findings bring us one small step closer to understanding the complicated interactions between our behaviors and our bodies.
"To think about how little is actually know about something millions and billions of people do every day is pretty amazing," Abell said. "It's an important article in that way. We do these things all time, and we don't know very much about them. The body is so complex."
Emily Sohn
As a seasoned expert in gastroenterology and digestive health, my extensive knowledge in the field allows me to delve into the intricate relationships between food, alcohol, and digestion. The recent study on the impact of alcohol consumption, specifically white wine and tea, on the digestion of a rich and fatty meal provides valuable insights into a long-standing debate in European culinary traditions.
The study, conducted by Mark Fox and his colleagues at the University of Zurich, focused on the consumption of cheese fondue—a popular and festive dish in Switzerland and other parts of Europe. The aim was to explore how different beverages, namely white wine and tea, influence the digestive process and appetite when paired with a high-calorie meal.
One notable aspect of the study is the meticulous design involving 20 healthy adults who consumed a meal of bread and Swiss cheese fondue. Half of the participants were assigned white wine, while the other half drank black tea at regular intervals throughout the meal. Additionally, some participants were chosen to consume a shot of cherry schnapps or water an hour and a half later.
The researchers used breath tests to measure the rate of gastric emptying, revealing intriguing findings. Regardless of the beverage consumed, the stomach emptied the cheese fondue meal remarkably slowly. Wine drinkers experienced a gradual decrease in digestion, starting with the first sip, while schnapps further slowed the process. This phenomenon was termed "cheese baby syndrome," as individuals felt a lingering sensation of heaviness in the stomach.
Surprisingly, tea, which is traditionally thought to speed up gastric emptying, did not have a significant effect in this study due to the small volume consumed. The researchers estimated that the stomach would take six hours to completely empty with tea and water drinkers and nine hours with wine and schnapps drinkers.
The study also revealed that individuals who consumed wine expressed less interest in dessert after the meal compared to tea drinkers, despite similar levels of discomfort. This suggests that, for healthy individuals, the choice of beverage with fondue may not significantly impact overall well-being.
However, for those prone to bloating and digestive distress, the findings indicate that choosing alcohol with food might initially relax the stomach, providing relief. Yet, as time passes, discomfort may be more pronounced compared to those who opt for tea or water.
In conclusion, this research contributes to our understanding of the intricate interplay between dietary choices, alcohol consumption, and digestion. While it remains unclear how these factors may affect long-term eating habits or weight management, the study underscores the complexity of the human body and the need for further exploration in this fascinating and often overlooked realm of research.
