More than 1,500 students were surveyed once during high school and again when they were 20 years old to determine the long-term effects of family meals on diet quality, social eating, meal structure and meal frequency. Participants were asked questions such as how often they ate family meals, how much they enjoyed sitting down to a meal with family or friends, if they had a tendency to eat on the run and how often they ate breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The researchers found eating family meals together during adolescence resulted in adults who ate more fruit, dark-green and orange vegetables and key nutrients, and drank less soft drinks. Frequency of family meals predicted females would eat breakfast as adults. For both sexes, frequency of family meals as adolescents predicted eating dinner more frequently as adults, placing a higher priority on structured meals and a higher priority on social eating. For women, eating together as a family more often during adolescence meant significantly higher daily intakes as adults of calcium, magnesium, potassium, vitamin B6 and fiber. Among males, eating as a family more during adolescence predicted higher intakes of calcium, magnesium, potassium and fiber as adults.

“Results of this study suggest that having more family meals during adolescence is associated with improved diet quality during young adulthood,” the researchers say. “Food and nutrition professionals should encourage families to share meals as often as practically possible.”

Additional research articles in the September Journal of the American Dietetic Association include:

The Influence of Sociodemographic Factors on Patterns of Fruit and Vegetable Consumption in Canadian Adolescents

The Diet Quality Index-Revised (DQI-R): A Tool to Promote and Evaluate Dietary Change among Older Cancer Survivors Enrolled in a Home-Based Intervention Trial

Acceptability of Sodium-Reduced Research Diets Including the DASH Diet among Adults with Pre-Hypertension and Stage 1 Hypertension

The PREMIER Intervention Helps Participants Follow the DASH Dietary Pattern and the Current Dietary Reference Intakes Recommendations.-American Dietetic Association