Communal Meals Bring Good Health

Getting your teenager to eat more veggies may be as simple as
having a communal meal. A study found that teens who dine with
their folks are much more likely to eat healthfully than those who eat
solo.

This may seem like a no-brainer, but it turns out that the pattern
holds true even for families in which the kids are allowed to choose what
they eat. The study appears in the
Journal of Adolescent Health and was based on
interviews with more than 18,000 adolescents.

Teens' diets are far from balanced: More than 70 percent don't eat
an adequate number of vegetable servings per day, and roughly half skimp
on fruits and dairy products.

Teens who eat at least six meals per week with one or both parents
are nearly 40 percent more likely to meet their daily vegetable requirement, according to researchers. They are
also better about eating fruits and dairy products and less likely to
skip breakfast.

Tami M. Videon, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral
sciences at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City and lead
author of the study, thinks kids learn nutrition by example. "When
children see their parents eating beans and vegetables, they think that's
what they should be doing," she says.

Adolescence, says Videon, is a particularly important time in terms
of nutrition, as teens tend to carry their eating habits—good or
bad—into adulthood.