Family dinners more likely to have healthier foods

Kids today are giving new meaning to the idea of TV dinners: Many are watching television while chowing down their evening meal, a new study reveals.

And overweight kids are more likely than normal-weight kids to eat in front of the television.

Researchers with the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston surveyed 287 fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders about their dinner habits for a week and found:

• Children ate 42 percent of their dinners while watching TV.
• Overweight kids ate 50 percent of their meals in front of the TV, compared with 35 percent for normal-weight children.
• Black children consumed 62 percent of their meals in front of the tube, compared with 43 percent for Hispanic children, 32 percent for white children and 21 percent for Asian-American children.
• Kids who ate dinner with their families ate more vegetables and drank fewer sodas than those who ate dinner alone.
• Kids who ate with their families also were more likely to eat lower-fat foods such as low-fat milk and salad dressing and lean meats than kids who ate by themselves.

The old school of thought is that dinner is a good place for sharing and talking with your kids, said nutritionist Karen Cullen of the Children’s Nutrition Research Center at Baylor. "Dinner is an opportunity for family conversation and interaction."

The downside of eating while watching television is that a lot of times you’re not aware of what you are eating, and you eat too much, she said.

And when kids are with their families at meals, they seem to make better choices in what they eat, Cullen said.

Children’s nutritionist Ellyn Satter said some parents may think their kids behave better when the television is on because it’s a distraction and may keep down the fighting and conflicts at the table. Or the television may be a distraction from the "boredom of the same old fare."

But it’s better for families to sit down and have a pleasant, relaxing meal together without the television blaring.

"Kids may beg to have the TV on, but in reality, their parents’ time and attention is far more important," said Satter, author of "Secrets of Feeding a Healthy Family" (Kelcy Press, $16.95).

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