Men Really Do Scarf Down Food Faster Than Women, Science Says

"Are you going to eat that?" the clichéd boyfriend asks his girlfriend after he finishes his food way before she does. However, there's now scientific evidence to back up gendered eating dynamic clichés. According to a study on eating habits published in Physiology and Behavior, men are more likely to chew faster and take bigger bites than their female counterparts, who on average, make their meals last longer by eating slower. The study also found that the more overweight or obese a person is, the more likely they are to chew faster than their thinner dining partners.

The study tested 24 males and 24 females and gave them all the exact same serving of white rice. The participants were told to eat the rice as they normally would. Even though the results might seem to point to a higher risk of obesity for fast eaters, the researchers maintained that other factors like  physical inactivity, depression, and genetics, would also lead to obesity, so if your brother scarfs down your food faster than you can say "hey, where'd my pizza go?" at the very least, his habits alone won't pack on the pounds. 

"Chewing influences a range of cognitive and emotional functions, which are different in both under- and overweight patients compared with normal weight controls," the authors wrote in the study's conclusion. "In addition, the modulation of eating behavior through chewing can be used as specific feedback to normalize food intake and, thus, normalize body weight."