Study Drop: Do Pals Help Pick Your Food Choices?

by Anna Maltby

Headed out to dinner with friends tonight? Chew on this: In the first systematic review on the subject, researchers have found that our perceptions of social norms for food -- i.e. what and how much people around us are eating -- have a significant impact on our eating decisions.

In the studies the researchers examined, when participants perceived that others were making low-calorie food choices, it significantly increased the likelihood that they would make low-calorie choices, too (same went for thinking others were eating lots of calories and actually eating lots of calories). In other studies, subjects were likely to make a similar food choice to what they thought others were eating (not just how much).

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"It appears that in some contexts, conforming to informational eating norms may be a way of reinforcing identity to a social group, which is in line with social identity theory," lead author Eric Robinson, PhD, of the University of Liverpool, said in a release. In layman's terms, that's the idea that humans have a built-in need to feel like accepted members of the group. And if the group is eating salads, we're more likely to eat a salad, too!

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Interestingly, information about other people's opinions of various food choices had little impact on study participant's actual food choices, according to the review, being published this week in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics -- in other words, we care way more about what people do than what they think.

Hey, looks like another excuse to plan some 2014 dinner dates with our healthiest-eating friends!

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