“Family Dinners Mean Better Nutrition for Children”

 

National surveys show that more than 80 percent of parents consider eating dinner with their children very important.  But related surveys indicate that less than 50 percent are actually doing it on a daily basis.  And the less often kids have dinner with their families, the less nutritiously they eat, says a new study from Harvard.

 

Call it “Son of Nurses’ Health Study.”  Harvard investigators collected information on the family dining habits of more than 16,000 sons--and daughters--of nurses participating in the ongoing research project.  The children ranged in age from 9 to 14.

 

The scientists found that children who ate dinner every night with family members were twice as likely to have five servings of fruits and vegetables a day as those who ate dinner with their families only a couple of times a week.  They were also much less likely to have fried foods away from home and a little less likely to be soda drinkers.  In addition, their diets were higher in a host of nutrients, including calcium, iron, folate, and vitamins B6, B12, C and E.

 

Admittedly, health professionals like nurses might be more inclined than other folks to make sure their children eat well.  Then, too, even if you’re well versed in the basics of healthful eating, it’s not necessarily easy to get a whole family together for dinner every night--or even almost every night.  But eating together doesn’t necessarily involve cooking.  It could also include eating out as a family or bringing in healthful prepared food.  In other words, parents’ presence by itself at dinnertime appears to influence their children’s eating habits for the better.

 

Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter, May, 2000