The benefits of family meals

The love we have for family meals and gastronomy is part of French habits, so much so that it is registered in the Unesco’s intangible cultural heritage of humanity. If it’s a time that we all enjoy, it would benefit our health as well. A study conducted by the Department of Behavioral Health and Nutrition and a researcher from the Energy Balance and Nutrition Laboratory at the University of Delaware (United States) has indeed highlighted the benefits of family meals.

The study, published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, shows that families who eat together have better results and better food functioning. This new research builds on a number of previously conducted studies and illustrates the importance of family meals.

According to the study’s lead author, Shannon M. Robson, assistant professor in the Department of Behavioral Health and Nutrition and researcher in the Energy Balance and Nutrition Laboratory at the University of Delaware, “this study used a holistic approach to explore the direction and magnitude of the relationship between exposure to family meals and feeding and family functioning outcomes in children. ”

More balanced meals for the family

A systematic review as well as a meta-analysis of all relevant studies published in a peer-reviewed journal in English before December 2018 was performed. Researchers have found that family meals taken together greatly promote the consumption of fruits and vegetables. Previously, studies only looked at how family meals affected fruit or vegetable consumption when looked at separately, but current research has combined fruits and vegetables to understand the influence of family meals on. their consumption.

The study also found that family meals improved family functioning, which is defined as connectivity and communication, expressiveness and problem solving. According to David Fikes, executive director of the IMF foundation, the organization that provided a research grant for this study, “There are thousands of individual studies examining the influence of family meals on nutrition and family behavior, but this new meta-analysis looks at the relationship between frequency of family meals and family functioning outcomes. We can confirm that family meals make an important contribution to improving nutrition and family functioning. What’s impressive are the positive behavior changes we’ve seen over the past five years: 89% of Americans believe it is important for families to eat as many family meals as possible each week, and 84% are ready to commit to doing so throughout the year. ”

The practice of family meals is not as sacred in the United States as it is here. It is for this reason that the IMF Foundation promotes the National Month of Family Meals, which has been observed every year in September for the past five years. This campaign encourages Americans to strive for just one more family meal per week at home. It also encourages more than 600 partners, including food retailers, suppliers, collaborators, media and celebrities, to support this initiative. The campaign launched by the IMF foundation has already seen a 36% increase in the number of Americans who eat meals with their families, a figure confirmed by the Harris Poll national tracking study.