Children who routinely eat their meals together with their family are healthier than those who don't, a new study shows.
Canadian researchers tracked hundreds of children from five months old to 10 years old.
They found that the 10-year-olds were more active, had better mental health, and drank less unhealthy soda if they always ate dinner with their parents or guardians and siblings.
The researchers say this is the clearest evidence to support the unconfirmed theory that family meals are beneficial in every way, since they were able to account for all lifestyle factors - including environment and their parents' health.
'The presence of parents during mealtimes likely provides young children with firsthand social interaction, discussions of social issues and day-to-day concerns, and vicarious learning of prosocial interactions in a familiar and emotionally secure setting,' pyschoeducation professor Linda Pagani, of the University of Montreal, said.
'Experiencing positive forms of communication may likely help the child engage in better communication skills with people outside of the family unit.
'Our findings suggest that family meals are not solely markers of home environment quality, but are also easy targets for parent education about improving children's well-being.'
The study looked at children who had been followed by researchers since they were five months old as part of the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development.
At age six, their parents started reporting on whether or not they had family meals together. At age 10, parents, teachers and the children themselves provided information on the children's lifestyle habits and their psycho-social well-being.
'We decided to look at the long-term influence of sharing meals as an early childhood family environment experience in a sample of children born the same year,' Pagani said, 'and we followed-up regularly as they grew up.'
'There is a handful of research suggesting positive links between eating family meals together frequently and child and adolescent health.
'In the past, researchers were unclear on whether families that ate together were simply healthier to begin with.
At a time when fewer families in Western countries are having meals together, it would be especially opportune now for psycho-social workers to encourage the practice at home - indeed, even make it a priority, the researchers said.
And family meals could be touted as advantageous in public-information campaigns that aim to optimize child development.
