Researchers at Cornell University in New York say dining with an ex can suggest intimacy and create more jealousy in a current partner than a no-meal meeting.

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Kevin Kniffin and Brian Wansink, co-authors of a study that appeared Wednesday in the journal PLoS On, said they asked undergraduates to rate their jealousy when confronted with hypothetical scenarios involving their romantic partners meeting up with former lovers, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.

The authors said the participants chose the scenarios involving food as those most likely to elicit jealousy.

"This is another way of looking at the degree to which people understand meals to involve more than just eating together," Kniffin said. "People view meals as more than just the concurrent consumption of calories."