London: To attract men, women order low calorie food when dining in mixed gender groups, a new study has found.
The research suggests that young women use their food to
send a signal to men. Just like clothing and accessories, they
pick meals to enhance their desirability to the opposite sex.
"The salad leaves are meant to say, `I`m pretty; I`m
attractive; I take care of myself`," said Psychologist
Meredith Young, lead researcher of the study.
For their study, the team observed the eating pattern of
almost 470 undergraduates -- both male and female aged between
17 and 22 years -- at the canteens of McMaster University in
Canada, The Guardian reported.
They found that when women shared the table with men they
ate rabbit food or other meals "of significantly lower caloric
value" than in all-women groups. And the pressure increases
with the number of potential partners around.
As for the men, they didn`t watch what they scoffed at
all, the researchers said.
In arriving at the hypothesis, the researchers made
following assumptions: the undergraduates had not yet settled
down, were in the market for relationships and that the
majority were heterosexual.
PTI