Eating Together As A Family Creates Better Eating Habits Later In Life

More family meals during adolescence is associated with improved diet quality
Submitted by MelindaBA

Eating together as a family during adolescence is associated with lasting positive effects on dietary quality in young adulthood, according to researchers at the University of Minnesota.

More than 1,500 students were surveyed once during high school and again when they were 20 years old to determine the long-term effects of family meals on diet quality, social eating, meal structure and meal frequency. Participants were asked questions such as how often they ate family meals, how much they enjoyed sitting down to a meal with family or friends, if they had a tendency to eat on the run and how often they ate breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The researchers found eating family meals together during adolescence resulted in adults who ate more fruit, dark-green and orange vegetables and key nutrients, and drank less soft drinks. Frequency of family meals predicted females would eat breakfast as adults. For both sexes, frequency of family meals as adolescents predicted eating dinner more frequently as adults, placing a higher priority on structured meals and a higher priority on social eating. For women, eating together as a family more often during adolescence meant significantly higher daily intakes as adults of calcium, magnesium, potassium, vitamin B6 and fiber. Among males, eating as a family more during adolescence predicted higher intakes of calcium, magnesium, potassium and fiber as adults. "

Results of this study suggest that having more family meals during adolescence is associated with improved diet quality during young adulthood," the researchers say. "Food and nutrition professionals should encourage families to share meals as often as practically possible."

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Study: Injuries, Deaths Tied to Consumer Drugs Rise Sharply

'Adverse events' more than doubled between 1998 and 2005
By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Sept. 10 (HealthDay News) -- The number of serious adverse drug events more than doubled between 1998 and 2005 in the United States, as did the number of related deaths, a new study found.

"This is the first study to ask the question, 'Are we gaining ground or losing ground in drug safety and improving patient safety in prescription drugs?' And I think, inescapably, the conclusion is that we're losing ground," said study lead author Thomas Moore, of the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, in Huntingdon Valley, Pa.

"This is a subject the public or health professionals just don't like to think about," Moore added. "Doctors don't like to think that what they're doing could be hurting patients. The pharmaceutical industry wants the public focused on benefits, and many people just want to believe this drug is going to help them. We need to focus on this problem. We can manage the risks of prescription drugs if we start to pay attention."

See: Study: Deaths tied to consumer drugs rise sharply