Family Meal Frequency and Weight Status in Young Children

Purpose The current study investigates the association between the frequency of family meals and weight status in 4- to 9-year old children. Methods A sample of 11,531 children from the 2003 National Survey of Child Health was used. Children were classified as underweight, normal weight, at risk for becoming overweight, and overweight using CDC 2000 age- and sex-specific criteria for BMI percentile; family meal frequency per week (FMW) was measured as the number of days the family ate meals together per week. A multinomial logistic regression was performed to investigate the association between FMW and childrenʹs odds of being in each weight status group. Results Over one-third of children (35.3%) were overweight, 15.2% were at risk for becoming overweight, 42.5% were normal weight, and 7.0% were underweight. The odds of being overweight was inversely associated with FMW (Odds ratio [OR]: 0.91, p<0.05); children were more likely to be overweight when 0 weekly family meals were reported (OR: 1.12) and were less likely to be overweight when 6 weekly family meals were reported (OR: 0.66). No association was found between FMW, underweight status and at risk for becoming overweight. Conclusion Young children who regularly eat family meals are less likely to be overweight. These results suggest that frequency of family meals may be a risk factor for overweight status in middle childhood. Home environment and child characteristics such as family functioning, poverty level, race, and age may yield further understanding of this relation. The results of additional analyses examining these potential mechanisms will be discussed.