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Eating together has both psychological and health impacts

by Medindia Content Team on Nov 27 2005 6:57 PM

A leading research university of Australia that of Queensland has conducted a research study that advocates eating together with the family to remain fit and healthy. The study was the world’s longest health study and quite useful in curing the problem of teenage obesity.

In the words of lead researcher, Dr Abdullah Al Mamun from UQ's School of Population Health, “regular family meals could reduce snacking and make for healthier food and social habits.” The novel finding of the study was that a healthy maternal attitude to family eating and diet was more important than the frequency of shared meals.

The sample size was 3795 mothers and their teenagers, which was taken in Brisbane when the teenagers were at age 14, in 1995.

The sample area of the study included prenatal, postnatal, childhood and adolescent periods of the child with those babies now in their early 20s. it also followed the growth of children through decades.

The study can be summed by the words of the lead researcher, "Eating together will enable the parent to have better knowledge of the child's food choices and amount that they tend to eat,”


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