Families, systems & health : the journal of collaborative family healthcare
-
Although there is a well-established literature showing a positive association between the frequency of family meals and child and adolescent healthful dietary intake and lower body mass index (BMI), little is known about the association between family meal frequency (quantity) and adult health outcomes and whether quality (distractions) of family meals influences adult BMI. This study investigates the association between the quantity and quality of family meals and adult BMI. Data were from a nationally representative sample of 4,885 adults ages 25 to 64 years (56% female), from which an analytic sample of 1,779 parents was drawn for the current study. ⋯ The interaction between quantity and quality was not statistically significant. Results suggest that both the quantity and quality of family meals matter for adult BMI, but one is not dependent on the other. Health care providers who work with families may want to consider promoting the importance of the quality and quantity of family meals to benefit the entire family.