Eating Together Reduces Teen Eating Disorders
Bulimia is a dangerous eating disorder, which is defined by episodes of binge eating, followed by periods of purging behavior like vomiting, laxative abuse, fasting or excessive exercise. Bulimia differs from anorexia in that most sufferers are normal weight, and some are even over weight. Bulimics become stuck in a vicious cycle of binging and purging that can have serious health consequences like eroded tooth enamel, ulcers, rupture of the esophagus, abnormal electrolytes and heart problems.
A study published in the January issue of the journal Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine showed that teen girls who reported eating at least 5 meals with their family each week were less likely to develop forms of seriously disordered eating like bulimia. Unfortunately, family meals didn’t have the same benefit for teen boys. However, it’s important to note that teen girls have a much higher incidence of eating disorders than teen boys, regardless of the frequency of family meals.
Participating in family meals provides time for family discussion, as well as parent modeling of appropriate eating behaviors, nutrition and food choices. It gives the entire family a time to unwind together, and may provide longterm health benefits for all of our daughters. Yet, it seems like more and more families are eating their meals on the road, while shuttling from one activity to another.
Does your family eat together? If not, does this study make you rethink your family’s current eating habits?
Reference: D Neumark-Sztainer, M Eisenberg, J Fulkerson, M Story, N Larson. Family Meals and Disordered Eating in Adolescents. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. January 2008; vol 162: pp 17-22.
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February 29th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
[...] mcnealy discusses eating in families: a study published in the january issue of the journal archives of pediatrics & adolescent [...]