Cooking family meals, skipping TV during those meals linked to lower odds of obesity
But the frequency of family meals doesn't appear to make much of a difference, according to research from The Ohio State University. The study found that adults who reported never watching TV or videos during family meals had significantly lower odds of obesity compared with peers who always watched something during mealtimes. Those whose family meals were all home-cooked also had lower odds of obesity than other adults who ate some or no home-cooked meals. The study appeared in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics . "How often you are eating family meals may not be the most important thing. It could be that what you are doing during these meals matters more," said lead author Rachel Tumin, survey and population health analyst manager at the Ohio Colleges of Medicine Government Resource Center. "This highlights the importance of thinking critically about what is going on during those meals, and whether there might be opportunities to turn th...