Occasional family meals boost kids’ fruit and veg intake

Eating meals together as a family, even if only twice a week, boosts children's daily fruit and vegetable intake to near the recommended 5 A Day, according to researchers at the University of Leeds. It is published today in the British Medical Journal’s Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health . Overall, this study found that 63% of children did not consume the World Health Organisation recommended amount of five portions (400g) a day. Children who always ate a family meal together at a table consumed 125g (1.5 portions) more fruit and vegetables on average than children who never ate with their families. Even those who reported eating together only once or twice a week consumed 95g (1.2 portions) more than those who never ate together. “Even if it’s just one family meal a week, when children eat together with parents or older siblings they learn about eating. Watching the way their parents or siblings eat and the different types of food they eat is pivotal in creating their own food habits and preferences,” said Janet Cade, of the University’s School of Food Science and Nutrition, who supervised the study.