Men really do eat faster than women, study confirms

Men do eat faster than women. (iStock)

For those who have observed the sometime unappealing way men inhale their food, you may be happy to know that there's science behind why.

A new experiment conducted by researchers at Semyung University in South Korea have confirmed that men eat their food much faster than women because they take big bites and chew at a faster pace.

The team initially set out to study the relationship between chewing rates and obesity for the journal Physiology & Behavior.  But the results showed a stronger correlation between chewing and gender.

They conducted the study by attaching electrodes to the jaw muscles of all 48 participants—24 men and 24 women—to measure the speed at which they consumed 152 grams (about a cup and a quarter) of boiled white rice.

Though the study group was very small, the researchers concluded that “men have significantly different chewing performances compared with women.”

The team found that eating behaviors vary “significantly by obesity status” but the discrepancy was more pronounced between men and women. The team of researchers hope to use these findings to inform gender specific treatments of obesity in the future.