Emily Chan
It turns out that when men and women have the social and financial freedom to make choices about their diet, they deviate from each other even more.
Overall, men eat more meat, and women eat less. According to the researchers, the bottom line is that men and women in wealthier nations with more gender equality may follow their desires to eat more or less meat. The phenomenon seems to have more to do with men’s eating habits than women’s.
Understanding the gender differences in meat consumption across various countries can help experts learn more about cultural relationships.
The findings also have the potential to contribute to efforts to reduce people’s meat and dairy consumption. Around 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions come from animal-based food products.
“Anything that one could do to reduce meat consumption in men would have a greater impact, on average, than among women,” said Hopwood.
The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports.
