We all love "girls nights", an evening out without the guys (or the kids) can be such fun, a welcome break from routine for many of us. But a recent study looking at how a women's diet changes depending upon who she eats with has made for some interesting findings.

 

Beyond the laughs and silliness, you may also be prone to eating more than you planned according to a new study appearing online in the journal Appetite that finds eating alongside a big group of women encourages everyone to take in more calories.

"Women eating in groups of women tend to increase the calorie values of the food they choose," explains study leader Meredith E. Young, PhD, a psychologist and an assistant professor in the Centre for Medical Education at Montreal's McGill University. Eating in smaller groups, or eating with a man caused women to eat less.

For men, as you'd expect, the number or gender of the dining companion made no difference in how much they ate during a meal.

 

The observational study involved 469 college men and women who ate at one of three cafeterias at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

 

The data the researchers collected included which foods a student put in front of them at the table, the calorie content, the sex of the people eating and the size of the groups.

 

Next Young and her team looked at what factors might affect the intake of food - the sex of the companions and the size of the group were both investigated.

 

The average total calories in men's meals remained a rock-solid 716; while for women the total calories averaged 609.

 

When women ate with men, they took in 552 calories, the biggest difference in calorie intake was observed in dating situations.

 

When women ate with another woman, the total calories each consumed jumped to 665.

When two men or two women ate together they took in about the same number of calories. Women eating in mixed groups ate less then they did with other women.

 

As the number of men in the group went up, the calories the women diners consumed went down. But for a group of women only, the subjects would increase the calorie value of the food they ate when groups were larger.

Three women eating together had each woman eating almost 650 calories, while a meal with four women brought the total calories consumed to about 800 for each.

 

Though no one can say for sure precisely why this happens, Young speculates that some social signaling is at work. She points to earlier studies that have found women who eat less are judged more attractive, as are women who are thin over heavier women.

 

Women naturally want to look more appealing, especially if a potential mate was is the table, and this may well explain the difference in calorie intake.

 

In a work that echoes these findings but involved children, Sarah-Jeanne Salvy, Ph.D. assistant professor of pediatrics at the Sate University of New York at Buffalo, found that children who are overweight eat more in the company of overweight friends than when around those they don't know.

 

Appearing this month in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Salvy details the results of the study that involved 23 overweight children and 42 normal weight controls, aged 9 to 15.

 

When eating with a friend the subjects ate a lot more than when eating with someone they didn't know. But overweight children who ate with an overweight dining companion, friend or not, ate more than heavier kids who had a normal weight eating partner.

 

Maybe by eating with someone closer to their own weight the kids feel they have permission to eat more.

While neither of these studies are suggesting you eat alone, the findings that your companions might influence your choice of food (and number of calories) is certainly good to know. Especially if you're trying to watch your weight.

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