A study conducted by Cornell University showed that men eat much more in the presence of women: 93% more pizza, but also 86% more salad! Researchers suggest this might be a way to show these ladies that they are healthy.
Eating Pizza
The link between eating disorders and sexual selection has often been evoked to explain anorexia in women: in our contemporary societies, where thinness is appreciated, women may feel pressured to maintain their figure to increase their chances of attracting a partner. This could explain some observations indicating that women eat less in the presence of men. This pressure on women can become pathological for some, extending to all meals, and in extreme cases, leading to anorexia.
Read Also: Eating Disorders: Causes, Types, Symptoms and Treatments
But what about men?
Do they eat less in the presence of women? To find out if their eating habits differ when eating with men and women, researchers at Cornell University conducted a study at an all-you-can-eat Italian buffet in the United States. It involved 105 adults between the ages of 18 and 81. Customers at this buffet could eat as much pizza and salad as they wanted without paying extra.
It was found that men ate more in the presence of women than men, specifically 93% more pizza and 86% more salad. Women, on the other hand, ate the same amount regardless of the company, but when they ate with men, they felt they had eaten too much. These results appear in Evolutionary Psychological Science.
From an evolutionary point of view, researchers suggest that overeating may be a way for men to impress women. Kevin Kniffin, the lead author of the study, links his findings to others suggesting that some people eat food that is too spicy to show off. In this new research, excess food would play a similar role, signaling that one is healthy enough to overeat without adverse effects.
Read Also: Psilocybin as a Potential Treatment for Anorexia Nervosa: A Feasibility Study
So the idea would be to attract someone by showing that you’re healthy enough to engage in behaviors that aren’t particularly healthy. This new article highlights the risk of eating disorders in men, even though men in the study also ate more salad in the company of women.
Women, however, did not eat less in the presence of men but felt they had overeaten. According to the authors, this could be due to the specific setting of the study, as it was not conducted in a particularly romantic context.
References
Kniffin, K.M., Sigirci, O. & Wansink, B. Eating Heavily: Men Eat More in the Company of Women. Evolutionary Psychological Science 2, 38–46 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-015-0035-3
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