Family Meals are Important: TV On or Off

By Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Nov. 6, 2007

The prevalence of overweight children aged 12 to 19 in the United States has more than tripled in the past 20 years, and researchers at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health are taking a serious look at one of the major factors that influence childhood obesity: what influences the eating patterns of adolescents.

Research recently published by my colleague Shira Feldman from Project Eating Among Teens (Project EAT), explored how watching television during family meals affects the dietary quality of adolescents. Our group had already discovered that eating meals together as a family positively influences the diets and eating patterns of adolescents during the teen years. The new question posed by Feldman was: does watching TV lessen the positive effects of family meals?

What she found was very interesting. Adolescents who ate family meals while watching TV did not eat as healthfully as their peers who ate family meals with the TV off. When the TV was on, boys consumed fewer vegetables and grains, and more soft drinks; girls ate significantly fewer vegetables, and more fried food. However, the findings also showed that teens who ate regular meals with their families, even while watching TV, still ate healthier foods than their peers who did not engage in family meals.

This Project EAT research infers that families who plan to eat together, even if it is while watching TV, may be more likely to prepare well-balanced meals than when adolescents prepare and eat meals on their own. It also reinforces the importance of eating together as a family. Meal time provides an important opportunity for teens to be exposed to healthful food choices and for parents to model healthy eating behaviors.

Project EAT has also learned that family meals continue to positively influence the eating patterns of teens as they approach young adulthood. Nicole Larson, Ph.D., M.P.H., and a group of our Project EAT colleagues found that when adolescents are regularly exposed to healthful food choices and behaviors during their teens, they are more likely to eat healthfully as young adults. As young adults, they eat breakfast more frequently, consume more fruits and vegetables, and drink fewer soft drinks. These young adults also tended to make meal structure and social eating a high priority.

Why having the TV on during family meals is associated with poorer dietary intake during family meals is still uncertain. It may mean advertisements on TV are influencing the food choices that the teens are making. It could also mean the meal situations or the types of food being served are different at homes where the TV is on. More research is needed to explore these possibilities.

What we have confirmed is that making time to eat together as a family has immediate and lasting health benefits for your teen. Try these tips to try to incorporate more family meals into your family’s schedule:

• Make family meals a priority. You may not always be able to eat together, but when planning your family’s activities, think about family meals.
• Shoot for gradual changes. If you are only eating together one time each week right now, try to add one or two more weekly meals.
• Be creative. Breakfast or Sunday brunch are other great opportunities for your family to eat together if dinner doesn’t always work.
• Eating out at restaurants can be a great way to get the family together. If your family eats out on a regular basis, pay attention to what you are ordering and watch portion sizes.
• Aim to improve the atmosphere at family meals by avoiding topics likely to lead to conflict. Save these topics for after dinner.

Neumark-Sztainer is a professor in the Division of Epidemiology and Community Health at the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health. She is the principal investigator of Project EAT

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