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.