Men Eat More While Dining With Women Mates, New Study Suggests

Men tend to eat more while dining with a woman than with other men in order to impress her, a new study has found.

According to a new study conducted by Cornell University researchers, the amount of food a man eat is influenced by gender of his dinner date than his appetite, reported TechTimes.

To reach a conclusion, researchers observed 105 adults eating lunch at Italian buffet over a period of two weeks. They recorded how many slices of pizza and the number of bowls of salad that each person ate. The gender of each diner's eating partner or partners was also noted. The participants ranged in age from 18 to 81.

It was found that men who dined in the company of at least one or more women ate a whopping 93 percent more pizza and 86 percent more salad than they ate when dining with only other men, according to CBSNews.

Previous research has suggested that women eat less in the company of men. But, the study found that the amount of food eaten by women participants didn't change, regardless of the gender of their dining partners. However, many women stated that they felt they overate and were rushed through their meal when in company of men.

"These findings suggest that men tend to overeat to show off - you can also see this tendency in eating competitions which almost always have mostly male participants," explained Kevin Kniffin, lead author of the study.

"Our article looks at the opposite question and finds evidence that men tend to 'eat heavily' in the company of women," he added.

The researchers recommend diners to relax and savor their meals to avoid overeating as it can lead to digestive problems and obesity.

"These findings are clear that people should calm down when eating with members of the opposite sex," noted Kniffin.

The findings were published in the journal, "Evolutionary Psychological Science."