Beyond the dinner table: who’s having breakfast, lunch and dinner family meals and which meals are associated with better diet quality and BMI in pre-school children?

Abstract

Objective Having frequent family dinners is associated with better diet quality in children however, it is unknown whether the frequency of certain family meal types (i.e., dinner) are more strongly associated with better child weight and diet quality compared to other meal types (i.e., breakfast, lunch). Thus, the current study examined the frequency of eating breakfast, lunch, or dinner family meals and associations with preschool child overall diet quality (HEI-2010) and body mass index (BMI) percentile. Design Cross sectional baseline data (2012-2014) from two randomized controlled childhood obesity prevention trials, NET-Works and GROW, were analyzed together. Setting Studies were carried out in community and in-home settings in urban areas of Minnesota and Tennessee. Subjects Parent-child (ages 2-5 yrs.) pairs from Minnesota (n=222 Non-Hispanics; n=312 Hispanics) and Tennessee (n=545 Hispanic; n=55 Non-Hispanics) participated in the study. Results Over 80% of families ate breakfast or lunch family meals at least once per week. Over 65% of families ate dinner family meals ≥5 times/week. Frequency of breakfast family meals and total weekly family meals were significantly associated with healthier diet quality for non-Hispanic preschool children (p<0.05), but not for Hispanic children. Family meal frequency by meal type was not associated with BMI percentile for non-Hispanic or Hispanic preschool children. Conclusions Breakfast family meal frequency and total weekly family meal frequency was associated with healthier diet quality in non-Hispanic preschool children but not in Hispanic children. Longitudinal research is needed to clarify the association between family meal type and child diet quality and BMI percentile.

Examining unanswered questions about the home environment and childhood obesity disparities using an incremental, mixed-methods, longitudinal study design: The Family Matters study

“…Although prior research has identified some important factors within the home environment that are protective for childhood obesity risk, there are important limitations and unanswered questions that still exist. First, research has shown that frequent family meals, 16–19 non-controlling parent feeding practices, 20,21 healthful food availability/accessibility in the home, 20 and authoritative parenting style 21–25 are associated with more healthful dietary intake (e.g., fruit/vegetables), 26–28 less consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks and fast food, 29 and fewer weight control behaviors 30–33 in youth. However, many of the above findings have been inconsistent across studies with minority and low-income families.…”

Do Parents Perceive That Organized Activities Interfere with Family Meals? Associations between Parent Perceptions and Aspects of the Household Eating Environment

“…Based on prior EAT study research and related studies addressing family meals, the survey included measures of family meal frequency, mealtime importance, and barriers to family meals. 23,[29][30][31][32][33] In addition, as community-based initiatives have raised concerns about "overscheduled kids," measures were added to assess whether parents with children aged 2 to 18 years perceived youth activities to interfere with family meals. 34 Focus groups with a separate community-based sample of 35 participants (aged 25 to 35 years), including parents and nonparents, were used to pretest a draft survey.…”

Ecological Momentary Assessment of the Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner Family Meal Environment in Racially/Ethnically Diverse and Immigrant Households

“…15,16 However, little is known about specific meal characteristics (e.g., who prepared the meal, who is present at the meal, emotional atmosphere of the meal, what was served at the meal) [17][18][19] and whether these characteristics differ by family meal types including, breakfast, lunch, or dinner family meals. 20,21 In addition, it is unclear which meal characteristics are associated with family meal frequency. Furthermore, prior research has not included real-time measures of meal characteristics, which makes it difficult to determine whether these family meal characteristics vary across time and context.…”

“…It is important to identify characteristics of breakfast, lunch, and dinner family meals because prior research has suggested that family meals eaten at any time may convey similar health benefits. 20,24 Additionally, the majority of previous research has utilized self-report surveys and questionnaires to evaluate meal characteristics, which tend to be static measures. 2,3,[5][6][7][8][9]12 The current study utilizes Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA), which uses real-time data collection methods, 25,26 to examine meal characteristics.…”