Will you choose a doughnut or a salad? Depends on what your colleague is having! New research, from the journal ‘Nature Human Behaviour’, says that the foods people buy at a workplace cafeteria may not always be because of preferences. When co-workers are eating together, people are more likely to select foods that are as healthy, or unhealthy, mirroring their fellow employees’ trays. This may explain one way obesity spreads through social networks. That eating patterns can be shaped even by casual acquaintances, is an evidence that corroborates several multi-decade observational studies showing the influence of people’s social ties on weight gain, alcohol consumption and eating behaviour.
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