You are how she eats

Our dining partners influence how fast we eat, Dutch researchers reported Thursday. This information could potentially help people with eating disorders.

Researchers from the University Nijmegen in the Netherlands found that a woman's eating pace is closely linked to the pace of a female eating companion.

"Our study showed that women adjust their bites and use the intake of the other women for cues about what they should do," said lead researcher Roel Hermans. Interestingly, the women reported being unaware of this behavior.

The study, which Hermans said is the first of its kind, appeared in Thursday's edition of PLoS ONE.

Men have been studied before, but the mimicking behavior has been shown to be greater in women than in men, he said.

The researchers confirmed what many people have thought before: our social environment influences our eating habits.

"This study speaks to the idea that people conform to what they know," said Dr. Robin Shapiro, a Chicago-based psychiatrist who specializes in child and adolescent psychiatry. "I think there is pressure to conform in our society. It's everything from how to dress to how to eat.

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For the study, researchers observed 70 pairs of young women, average age 22, who were strangers before the study, as they ate together for 20 minute. Each pair included an instructed co-eater.

Researchers calculated a mimicked bite as one taken within a fixed five-second interval after the other person had taken a bite. Non-mimicked bites were counted as bites outside the five-second interval.

They found that mimicry was more than three times as likely to occur during the first few minutes of the interaction than at the end of the interaction.

"They use the intake of the other woman as a guideline for their behavior," Hermans said. "If the unknown other is eating a large amount they can safely eat a large amount too, for example.

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It was especially important that the two women don't know each other.

"When you're eating in a social context with people you don't know, women are uncertain about how much they can eat," Hermans said. "This uncertainty makes them vulnerable to social influences."

Nutritionist and eating disorder specialist Rebecca Bohn, who has a private practice in Chicago, said she observes this type of behavior among her patients.

"Women often talk about being with other people and feeling influenced by what the other people are eating," she said. "Around a table of women they have to check with the other women."

Hermans said one reason women act this way is because of impression management, which is what Bohn said is occurring.

"If one woman orders a salad, the other woman would be afraid to order a sandwich," she said. "This is because she thinks the other woman might think that she's a bad person.

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Now research is being conducted in the Netherlands to explore the degree in which children of both sexes are influenced by the eating behaviors of those around them.

"In communities where healthy food and healthy behaviors are not as readily available, kids pick up on their parents' behavior," Shapiro said. "These are all learned behaviors."

The study has implications for ways to help people become more conscious of their eating habits.

"In a group eating disordered environment there is this internal pressure between the women," Shapiro said.

The findings of this study could potentially help increase understanding of eating disorders, she said.

"In an ideal world people could become more aware of how their food intake is impacted by social contexts," Hermans said.