Your Boozed-Up Pizza Craving, Explained

Pizza and beer will always go together, but why does a night of drinking tend to end up with 2 a.m. cheese slices?

PopSci examined the link between alcohol and fatty foods, finding explanations in both biological impulses as well as brain chemistry. The first reason? "All mammals gravitate to eating the most energy-dense foods," David Levitsky, a professor at Cornell University, told PopSci. "Fat is the most energy-dense food available." And when you're drunk, your self-control is shot (explaining the trend of drunk puppy buying).

In the brain chemistry part, a chemical called galanin can be blamed as well. Galanin, when released, increases the desire for fats, and eating fats increases galanin production, leading to a downward spiral of pizza, burgers, and smothered French toast. Even worse? "Alcohol intake also results in increased galanin production," William Gruchow, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, told PopSci. Excellent.

Of course, a lot of these fatty cravings might just be conditioned into drinkers after several hungover Sunday mornings. We've constantly been told that fatty foods help hangovers, as science has proven that fatty foods slow down the absorption of alcohol, while carbs help ease nausea. So really, those early morning pizza sessions? That's just us being smart, right?