Men and women have different tastes in food, with men favoring meat and poultry, and women fruits and vegetables, researchers said in what was touted as the most extensive study to date of gender differences in eating habits.

More than 14,000 adult men and women were surveyed from May 2006 to April 2007, for the Foodborne Disease Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet), to determine their eating habits, including high risk foods such as undercooked meat and eggs.

"It was interesting that there were some differences, and whether those differences are cultural or biological, they're not quite sure," said Beletshachew Shiferaw, a lead researcher on the study.

"To our knowledge, there have been studies in the literature on gender differences in eating habits, but nothing this extensive," the epidemiologist told the 2008 International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases in Atlanta, Georgia.

Researchers found that men were more likely to eat meat and poultry, especially duck, veal, and ham, and certain shellfish such as shrimp and oysters.

Women instead were more likely to eat vegetables, especially carrots and tomatoes, and fruits, especially strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and apples.

Women also preferred dry foods, such as almonds and walnuts, and were more likely to consume eggs and yogurt when compared with men.

There were also some exceptions to the eating trends of each gender: men were significantly more likely to eat asparagus and brussels sprouts than women, while women were more likely to consume fresh hamburgers as opposed to the frozen kind, which the men preferred.

And regarding high risk foods, the researchers found that significantly more men consumed undercooked meat and eggs than women, while more women were more likely to eat alfalfa sprouts.

Men's preference for meat explains why men have more cases than women when it comes to high cholesterol, the study said.

研究人員日前稱，男性和女性對食物的偏好有所不同。男性愛吃肉禽類食物，而女性則更偏愛水果和蔬菜。據稱這是迄今為止針對飲食習慣性別差異所進行的最廣泛的一項研究。

“食源性疾病監測網”（FoodNet）共對14000多名成年男女的飲食習慣進行了調查，其中包括未煮熟的肉和雞蛋等高風險食品。該調查從2006年5月持續至去年4月。

該研究的首席研究員Beletshachew Shiferaw說：“有意思的是，我們從調查中發現了一些差異。但目前還不能確定這些差異是文化上的，還是生物學上的。”

這位流行病學家在佐治亞州亞特蘭大召開的“2008流行傳染病國際研討會”上說：“據我們所知，此前有文獻中提到了一些有關飲食習慣性別差異的研究，但都不如我們的研究廣泛。”

研究人員發現，男性更愛吃肉類和禽類，尤其是鴨肉、牛肉和火腿，以及蝦、牡蠣等貝類食物。

而女性則更青睞蔬菜和水果，尤其愛吃胡蘿卜、西紅柿、草莓、藍莓、酸梅和蘋果。

女性還愛吃杏仁和核桃等堅果類食品，此外，與男性相比，她們對雞蛋和酸奶更感興趣。

然而從男性和女性的飲食趨勢來看，也存在一些例外。如：男性比女性更愛吃蘆筍和芽甘藍，女性更青睞新鮮漢堡，而不是男性喜愛的凍漢堡。

研究人員發現，在高風險食物方面，男性吃未煮熟的肉類和雞蛋明顯多于女性，而女性更愛吃苜蓿芽。

男性對肉類的偏愛可以解釋為什么男性高膽固醇的發生率高于女性。

Vocabulary: 

undercooked:未煮熟的