Haste is not a friend of healthy eating. The confirmation comes from a study coordinated by the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin and published on Jama Network Open, according to which meals longer than ten minutes and relaxed encourage children to eat more fruit and vegetables, without having repercussions on consumption of other foods.
‘Low fruit and vegetable intake increases the risk of chronic noncommunicable diseases. Yet children around the world eat far fewer fruits and vegetables than the recommended amount,’ the researchers write.
The team tested the impact of meal length on nutrition involving 50 parent-child pairs.
All pairs were observed in the context of two meals that were identical in all but duration. In the first meal, the attendants announced that they would clear the table after a time equal to the typical length of their meals at home (on average, about 20 minutes). In the second, the time was increased by 50% (approximately 10 additional minutes).
When there was more time available, children eat more fruit without increasing the consumption of other foods; moreover, they ate more slowly and reported a greater sense of satiety at the end of the meal.
These are important results, explain the researchers: the increase in fruit consumption “corresponded to approximately 1 serving or 100 grams more. This result has practical importance for public health because 1 additional daily serving reduces the risk of disease cardiometabolic 6% to 7%,” they write. Furthermore, “longer family meals have been associated with slower eating rates, increased satiety, and lower risk of obesity in children,” the researchers conclude.
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