Pizza, ice cream, cookies – these are just some of the foods that inspire cravings. Most people have them at one time or another, but food cravings are most closely associated with the female gender, possibly because cravings for certain foods are so common during pregnancy. But men get them too, but the foods they crave are often different than the ones that make the tongues of women tingle with anticipation. Are foods cravings more common in women than men, and why do the men and women crave different foods?
Are Food Cravings More Common in Females?
Women do seem to experience food cravings more frequently than the male sex. According to research, almost 90% of women wrestle with cravings for certain foods a few times a month, while only half of men report a similar experience. Why the difference?
Back in early times, cravings had a survival advantage. Cravings for high-calorie, fatty foods meant you’d have more energy to store if you indulged. After all, you never knew where your next meal was coming from. Nowadays, getting a high-calorie meal is as easy as pulling into a drive-thru window. Food cravings may have been even more important for females since they needed to carry calories for two during their reproductive years.
Men and Women Don’t Crave the Same Foods
Still, men had to meet the challenges of survival in earlier times too, so cravings aren’t unique to females. But the types of foods the two sexes crave are different. Men and women both crave foods they see as being comfort foods, but men and women don’t always agree on what that comfort food is.
According to research published in Physiology and Behavior, women are more likely to crave snack foods like ice cream, potato chips, and cookies that they don’t need to prepare, while men crave meal-type foods such steak, pizza, pasta or soup. Women are overwhelming the biggest cravers of chocolate. In this study, 92% of the participants that admitted frequent cravings for chocolate were women.
Why men have different food cravings than women isn’t clear. Researchers in this study believe it may go back to how men are raised. Men may have had more labor-intensive meals prepared for them during childhood than women and came to associate those foods with comfort. Contrary to popular belief, not all cravings are for unhealthy foods. Some people, particularly men, crave healthier food like soups and vegetables. Women also feel more guilt when they give in to a craving than men do.
Another factor that may contribute to greater cravings among women is hormonal fluctuations. Many women experience cravings for sweets especially chocolate a week before their period. No one knows exactly why, but serotonin levels drop in women who are pre-menstrual, which may account for some of the symptoms of PMS such as feeling sad, withdrawn, irritable and tired. Eating carb-rich foods allows more tryptophan to enter the brain, which can be converted to serotonin, thus providing some relief.
The Bottom Line?
Women experience more food cravings than men, and their preference is for snack foods and chocolate, especially around the time of their period. On the other hand, when men crave food, they’re more likely to long for a tender piece of steak, a hot slice of pizza or a home-cooked meal like mom used to make. And that might be a good thing. At least there won’t be a fight for the chocolate.
References:
Physiology & Behavior 79 (2003) 739- 747.
Fitness Magazine. “Must Have Chocolate”
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