Effect of Longer Family Meals on Children's Fruit and Vegetable Intake: A Randomized Clinical Trial

• Published in: JAMA network open 2023-04, Vol.6 (4), p.e236331-e236331
• Main Authors: Dallacker, Mattea, Knobl, Vanessa, Hertwig, Ralph, Mata, Jutta
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Clinical trials; Diet; Families & family life; Feeding Behavior; Female; Fruit; Fruits; Humans; Intervention; Male; Meals; Online Only; Original Investigation; Public Health; Vegetables
• ISSN: 2574-3805; 2574-3805
• DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.6331

Family meals are a formative learning environment that shapes children's food choices and preferences. As such, they are an ideal setting for efforts to improve children's nutritional health. To examine the effect of extending the duration of family meals on the fruit and vegetable intake in children. This randomized clinical trial used a within-dyad manipulation design and was conducted from November 8, 2016, to May 5, 2017, in a family meal laboratory in Berlin, Germany. Included in the trial were children aged 6 to 11 years who did not follow a special diet or have food allergies and adult parents who served as the nutritional gatekeeper in the household (ie, the family member responsible for at least half of the food planning and preparation). All participants underwent 2 conditions: control, defined as regular family mealtime duration, and intervention, defined as 50% longer mealtime duration (10 minutes longer on average). Participants were randomized to the condition they would complete first. Statistical analyses of the full sample were conducted between June 2 and October 30, 2022. Participants had 2 free evening meals under different conditions. In the control or regular condition, each dyad ate in the same amount of time as their reported regular mealtime duration. In the intervention or longer condition, each dyad had 50% more time to eat than their reported regular mealtime duration. The primary outcome was the number of pieces of fruits and vegetables eaten by the child during a meal. A total of 50 parent-child dyads participated in the trial. Parents had a mean (range) age of 43 (28-55 years) years and were predominantly mothers (36 [72%]). Children had a mean (range) age of 8 (6-11) years and included an equal number of girls and boys (25 [50%]). Children ate significantly more pieces of fruits (t49 = 2.36, P = .01; mean difference [MD], 3.32 [95% CI, 0.96 to ∞]; Cohen d = 0.33) and vegetables (t49 = 3.66, P