Men binge eat to charm ladies: study

Men eat significantly more food in the company of women than they do when dining with the same sex

NEW YORK: Men please take note: If you want to lose weight, keep a check on your binge eating habits, especially when dining with a woman you're trying to impress.



According to a research, the amount of food you eat is influenced by the gender of your dinner date than your appetite. Researchers from Cornell University found that men are prone to eat significantly more food in the company of women than they are when dining with men.

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"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 lead author Kevin Kniffin.

To reach this conclusion, researchers observed 105 adults lunching at an Italian buffet over the course of two weeks. They recorded the number of pizza slices and salad bowls each diner ate. The gender of each diner's eating partner or partners was also noted.

Men who dined with at least one woman ate 93 per cent more pizza and 86 per cent more salad than men who dined with the same sex. However, the quantity of food that women ate didn't differ according to gender. When they ate with men, many women mentioned feeling that they overate and were rushed through their meal.

PHOTO: TUMBLR

The study was conducted by Kniffin, Ozge Sigirci, former visiting scholar at the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab and Brian Wansink, professor and director of the Food and Brand Lab.



The findings were published in the journal Evolutionary Psychological Science.