The Relation between the Frequency of Family Gathered Meals and the Body Mass Index-Standard Deviation Score in Elementary Students

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Skipping family gathered meals, because of lack of time due to increased academic demands, leads to nutritional imbalance and further contributes to obesity among children and teens. This study was conducted to underscore the importance of family gathered meals and to serve as a basis for reducing the prevalence of childhood obesity. METHODS: The relation between frequency of family gathered meals and body mass index-standard deviation score (BMI-SDS) was assessed at 247 elementary students in Gyeonggi-do. Survey based on self reported questionnaire was conducted from April to May of 2013. Parental consents from participants were received and parents were asked to answer the questionnaire together with their children. The questionnaire included questions regarding anthropometric characteristics, socioeconomic informations, number and environmental characteristics of family gathered meals, and eating habits of their children. RESULTS: The average frequency of family gathered breakfast was 3.65+/-2.18 times/week, frequency of family gathered dinner was 6.10+/-1.54 times/week, and frequency of family eating-out was 1.64+/-1.43 times/week. Although the prevalence of family gathered breakfast among the participants was shown to be 51%, the prevalence of skipping breakfast was 14.2%, which was relatively high. The BMI-SDS increased in correlation with less frequent breakfast consumptions (P=0.015) and family gathered breakfasts (P<0.001), also with more frequent family gathered dinners (P=0.001) and family eating-outs (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: The eating frequency of breakfast, family gathered breakfast, family gathered dinner, and the family eating-out is associated with BMI-SDS.