Overeating: Men Eat To Impress While With Opposite Sex

Researchers from Cornell University have discovered that if you're a man, you may be overeating when you dine with women. Their study, published in the journal Evolutionary Psychological Science, found that when eating with the opposite gender, men tend to eat significantly more food when compared to how much they eat when dining with only other men.

The study was conducted by Kevin Kniffin, the lead author from Cornell, Ozge Sigirci, a former visiting scholar at the Cornell University Food, and Brand Lab and Brian Wansink, professor and director of the Food and Brand Lab, according to a news release.

The team observed 105 adult diners at an all-you-can-eat Italian buffet for a period of two weeks, recording the number of slices of pizza and bowls of salad that each diner consumed while at dinner. The team segmented their findings by noting the differences between men and women, by having the diners complete a survey about how full they were, and how hurried and comfortable they felt while dining. 

They found that males ate 93 percent more pizza and 86 percent more salad when dining with females. Interestingly enough, the women's eating habits did not change regardless of who they dined with, but when they ate with men, a majority of them admitted to feeling like they overate, and as though they rushed through their meal.

"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," Kniffin said.

The idea of eating disorders and problematic eating by women in the sexual selection process has been examined by evolutionary psychologists for some time, but there has yet to be a thorough examination of men's eating habits in regards to the opposite sex, according to the study. Overeating can have serious health consequences physically, emotionally, and mentally.

The researchers wanted to address that while women are presumed to "eat lightly" when in the presence of men, the reality of the situation is that this perception is caused by a competition with other women in sexual selection, and that this occurs with men, just on the opposite end of the spectrum. Whereas women are perceived to "eat lightly," men tend to overeat. 

"Our findings concerning male overconsumption in the presence of women appear to present an example of self-handicap behavior," the researchers wrote.

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