Men Eat More Of This When Trying To Impress Women, Says Study

Men do many things to impress women — everything from drinking too much to discreetly showing off their abs. Oh, it's so hot in here, I have to take off my shirt.

But new research says that men eat a lot of pizza as a way to impress women. Strangely, this doesn't seem especially impressive to me. If eating pizza is a way to show off in front of women, then my boyfriend is working his ass off impressing me at least once a month, and usually moreso in football season.

A study called "Eating Heavily: Men Eat More in the Company of Women," led by Kevin Kniffin and a team of researchers from Cornell University, discovered that men consume 93 percent more pizza and 86 percent more salad when dining with a female rather than another man.

The study, published in the academic journal Evolutionary Psychological Science wanted to better understand the correlation between sexual selection and questionable eating practices by men. 

"When one recognizes the overwhelming presence of men in competitive eating contests where the goal is to consume as much as possible in as short a period as possible, then it becomes clear that male eating patterns warrant closer attention through the lens of sexual selection theory," the study says.

Behavioral scientists tracked 133 adults to eat at a fixed price all-you-can-eat pizza restaurant, and it was there that they saw men eating with women tended to eat more.

Kniffin said, "These findings suggest that men tend to overeat to show off. Instead of a feat of strength, it's a feat of eating."

The concept is that men are establishing that they have extraordinary abilities, talents, and expertise that are superior to those of other men. The irony is of course, that too much consumption of pizza or any high calorie food leads to excessive weight and creates a body type considered by many as unattractive. 

If the next study shows how drinking a ton of beer excites women, then I know some men who would love to participate.