Your hands might reveal more about your eating habits than you might think.
Researchers looked at the difference in length between people’s index fingers and ring fingers and how that related to food choices.
Having a longer ring finger than index finger is said to indicate higher exposure to testosterone in the womb, and is therefore suggestive of masculinity.
In an experiment, people who had ring fingers longer than their index fingers made more “masculine” food choices—regardless of whether they were actually men or women.
University of Agder researchers found people with similarly sized index and ring fingers were also more likely to choose “masculine” foods such as burgers, Coca Cola, and hard liquor.
People with index fingers longer than their ring fingers were more likely to choose “feminine” foods such as salads, Diet Coke, white wine, and shrimp.
However, the effects only held when people were hungry.
The researchers say overall, the results hint at a wider link between prenatal testosterone exposure and eating habits as adults.