Is family meal frequency associated with obesity in children and adolescents? A cross-sectional study including 155 451 participants from 43 countries

Objective

This study tried to examine the association between the frequency of family meals and excess weight using large and representative samples of children and adolescents from 43 countries.

Methods

This cross-sectional study used data from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC), which included nationally representative samples of children and adolescents aged 10–17 years, involving a total of 155 451 participants (mean age = 13.6 years; standard deviation [SD] = 1.6; 51.4% girls). Family meal frequency was gauged through the following question: ‘How frequently do you and your family typically share meals?’ The possible responses were: ‘never’, ‘less often’, ‘approximately once a week’, ‘most days’ and ‘every day’. The body weight and height of the participants were self-reported and utilized to calculate body mass index (BMI). Subsequently, BMI z-scores were computed based on the International Obesity Task Force criteria, and the prevalence of excess weight was defined as +1.31 SD for boys and + 1.24 SD for girls, with obesity defined as +2.29 SD for boys and + 2.19 SD for girls. Generalized linear mixed models were conducted to examine the associations between the frequency of family meals and excess weight or obesity.

Results

The lowest predicted probabilities of having excess weight and obesity were observed for those participants who had family meals every day (excess weight: 34.4%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 31.4%–37.5%; obesity: 10.8%, 95% CI 9.0%–13.0%).

Conclusions

A higher frequency of family meals is associated with lower odds of having excess weight and obesity in children and adolescents.