Pizza And Beer Are A Match Made In Heaven, According To Science

Few things go with hot pizza better than a cold beer. Tart tomato sauce, creamy cheese, and chewy crust, along with the effervescence of beer, is a satisfying comfort meal for sporting events, parties, and date nights. Pizza and beer pair so well in flavor thanks to a few scientific factors having to do with contrasting and complementary chemical components. Science even shows that the combo itself could be good for you.

There's a reason why beer is used in so many recipes, and it has to do with yeast. That same yeast can be good for your gut, and also gives both beer and pizza their bready flavors. Carbonation, caused by the yeast in beer, has been shown to help with swallowing and clearing your throat. Dairy-rich pizza can gum up your throat and linger in your stomach, but carbonation may aid in digestion so that pizza goes down easier. A 2023 study by Nutrients found that beer boosts the biodiversity of the microbiota in your gut, possibly strengthening digestion long term. Plus, the greasiness in pizza and the acid in its sauce get cut and balanced by the sharp hops in beers. The potential health boosts and complementary tasting notes don't stop there.

Let's be honest — pizza and beer are never going to be real health food, but that doesn't mean they don't have science-backed nutritional benefits. As for pizza, it's packed with vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin C and calcium. These substances can increase bone health, especially when paired with veggie toppings. Just be careful how many salty toppings you include, and be sure to steer clear of the most unhealthy frozen pizzas.

On the beer side of things, it contains some important minerals and protein, too. More than that, though, beer has been shown to have a positive impact on heart health. A 2021 Nutrients study showed that moderate beer consumption actually cut down on cardiovascular issues and increased overall longevity. Throw pizza and beer together, and you end up with a nutrient-rich food and a health-boosting drink that work together to partially cancel out each other's negative effects. Beer makes pizza easier to process, and pizza boosts the fermentation effects of beer while keeping you from getting drunk quickly.

Other potential beer and pizza benefits are more difficult to prove. Some Italians claim that beer can improve your skin health. One rather dubious University of Sydney article even posits that very cold beer and ice cream with hot pizza can actually help you burn calories. Keep in mind, however, that the acids in pizza sauce combined with the yeastiness in beer can sit heavy in your tummy and cause acid reflux. So, while there are decades-old jokes about pizza and beer diets, making them your primary sustenance probably isn't the best call.

At the very core of the matter is the fact that, scientifically, beer and pizza just have amazingly complementary flavors. Their tastes go together so well, in fact, that people have tried making pizza-flavored beer before. If you drink beer while eating, carbonation cleanses your palate, making each bite fresh and flavorful. Pizza and beer also have tons of umami flavor, which makes their team-up absolutely mouthwatering, and creaminess from the cheese has a rich flavor profile that beer contrasts in an empowering way.

Of course, which pizza and beer pairing you pick has a lot to do with how well they mesh. For example, paler beers go well with simple pizzas such as Margheritas, whereas spicy meat pizzas call for IPAs. But these aren't cut-and-dry rules; a 2008 PASOS study showed that, when it comes to food pairings, women and men have different preferences ranging from spicy pizza to mild-flavored beer. Therefore, how heavenly your pairing tastes comes down partially to genetics.

Lastly, pizza and beer's synergy has a lot to do with the company you keep. A 2019 study out of Japan shows that food and drinks taste better when you're with people you like. Few people eat a whole pizza with beer all by themselves, so if you share pizza and brews with friends, they taste better and make you feel better, too.