Many of us are familiar with the idea of women going on dates opting for salads instead of full meals.  This scenario has been played out on TV and in popular culture for decades.  New research indicates that this phenomenon is indeed real.

A new study conducted at MacMaster University and published in the online Journal Appetite reveals that women chose lower calorie food options when dining with a male companion compared to dining with a female companion. Sciencedaily.com reports:

“By observing students in naturalistic settings in three large university cafeterias with a wide choice of food options and dining companions, Young found that women who ate with a male companion chose foods of significantly lower caloric value than did women who were observed eating with another woman.

What’s more, when women ate in mixed-gender groups their food choices were at the lower end of the caloric scale; the more men in the group the fewer the calories. When women ate in all-female groups, their food was significantly higher in calories.

“Eating is a social activity,” says Young. “In university cafeterias people select their food before they are seated and perhaps before they know with whom they will eat. Given the observed differences it seems likely that social groupings were anticipated at the time of food selection.”"

This is an interesting study and more research would undoubtedly be helpful in learning more about these results.  It is a reminder that many factors we do not normally consider when planning our diet plans can have a significant effect on what we eat.