A recent study from the Cornell University has revealed that men "eat like a horse" when women are around.

"We find that while men disproportionately over-eat in the company of women, women felt like they overate and felt rushed when eating with men even though there was no evidence that they actually ate more," said lead author Kevin Kniffin of Cornell University's Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management.

Like Us on Facebook

The study observed 74 men and women at an eat-all-you-can Italian restaurant. The available menu featured unlimited pizza, salad and side dishes.

"Men dining with women typically ate about three slices of pizza and five bowls of salad, compared with about 1.5 slices and less than three bowls of salad when they ate in the company of other men," according to Reuters. "The women, meanwhile, ate more salad and less pizza when joined by female companions than when dining with men."

Headlines and Global News elaborated the findings of the study which cited that "unconscious psychological process" might be the reason why men tend to eat more when around with women.

"In other words, 'self-handicap behavior' is basically a kind of showing off," said Kniffin.

He meant that men may be showing off their biological fitness by eating more than they normally do. Unhealthy eating habits might be men's way of signaling to women that they can "endure self-inflicted pain for a short period of time."

Kniffin added that people, both men and women, should calm down when they eat together with persons from the opposite sex.

Meanwhile, Senior Clinical Nutritionist Samantha Heller of the New York University Langone Medical Center, who was not involved with the study, said that proper eating habits should always be considered by all people.

"We should all be eating more slowly, mindfully and thoughtfully," Heller said. "There is never any reason to stuff one's self into a food coma. It's tough on the body in many ways and never leaves one feeling energized, healthy, or in the case of the male-female relationship, sexy."

TagsEating Habit, Men Overeat When Around Women, Kevin Kniffin