Families that eat together – even occasionally – tend to ensure that children have a healthy diet, researchers report today.
Even if it is only Sunday lunch or Friday night dinner or another meal once a week, it is enough to ensure children are eating at least nearly enough fruit and vegetables, researchers say.
Almost two thirds of children fail to consume the recommended five-a-day of fruit and vegetables, researchers found.
The research involved some 2,000 children in 52 schools in London, UK, and may not represent the situation across the UK. Almost half the children had English as a second language.
But researchers, reporting in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, say the findings highlight the importance of the home environment in child eating habits.
When families never age together, children consumed on average 3.3 portions of fruit and vegetables a day compared with 4.8 portions consumed by those whose families always ate together. When families sometimes ate together – even just once a week – children consumed on average 4.5 portions.
Researcher Meaghan Christian, of Leeds University, said: "Modern life often prevents the whole family from sitting round the dinner table, but this research shows that even just Sunday lunch round the table can help improve the diets of our families."
She added: "Since dietary habits are established in childhood, the importance of promoting the family meal needs to be more prominent in public health campaigns. Future work could be aimed at improving parental intake or encouraging parents to cut up or buy snack-sized fruit and vegetables."
Family meals can help children reach their 5 A Day: a cross-sectional survey of children’s dietary intake from London primary schools Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 20 December 2012; doi:10.1136/jech-2012-201604
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