Impact of Other People on Our Eating Habits

It seems like there have always been rumors that the other people can have an impact on one’s own eating habits.  There have actually been some studies over the years to confirm that this can be true for many people.  A couple of recent studies examined this phenomena and attempted to determine some of the specifics of this relationship.

In one study, researchers explored the effect of body type on the food consumption patterns of study volunteers.  For this study, researchers used a professional obesity prosthesis to show that the body type of a food server affected study subjects' eating patterns.  The results showed that dieters and non-dieters responded differently to the perceived body size of the server:

• Non-dieters ate more snacks when the server was thin, but dieters ate more snacks when the server was heavy.
• Dieters were more susceptible to server persuasion when the server was heavy, such that dieters were more apt to choose snacks (both healthy and unhealthy) based on the servers's recommendations.

In a second study, the impact of others on snacking habits was investigated.  For this study, the investigators partnered college students with a member of the research team, whom the study subjects thought was simply another study subject.  The students were given snacks while watching movie clips.  The member of the research team masquerading as a study subject intentionally consumed the snacks first in either a large or small serving size.  Each of the study subjects was then offered the same snack and their eating behavior was recorded.

In each and every case, the amount of food consumed by the real study subject was influenced by portion size chosen by the fake study subject.  The following findings were reported:

• In general each study participant consumed a portion size similar to what the researcher consumed.
• If the researcher planted in the study was thin and consumed a large portion of snacks, the study subject also consumed a large portion.
• If the researcher planted in the study was overweight and consumed a large snack size, the study subjects tended to consume a little less.

Overall, the study investigators suggest that while the size of the person with whom you dine can have an impact on your own dining habits, the PORTION SIZE of what your dining partner consumes has a much greater impact. 

These studies shed some light on how our eating habits can be influenced by the people around us.  This appears to be true for both the body type and eating habits of other people.  While it will likely be difficult to not let other people influence our eating habits, increasing our own personal awareness of things like obesity, healthy nutrition, and appropriate portion sizes can go a long way towards helping us maintain a healthy eating lifestyle in the face of outside influences.

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