Race and family meals

Eating family meals may help fight obesity in white children, but it doesn't seem to benefit black children much, and could even raise Hispanic boys' obesity risk. In a study, researchers looked at data from the 2003 National Survey of Children's Health. The study included 16,770 boys and girls 6 to 11 years old, 72% of whom were non-Hispanic whites. Forty-three percent of the white children were overweight or obese, compared to 60% of Hispanic children and 63% of non-Hispanic black children. White and black children ate about five meals a week with their families, on average, while Hispanic children averaged six family meals a week. Non-Hispanic white kids who ate family meals every day were one-third less likely to be obese than white children who ate family meals twice a week or less. But there was no relationship between family meal frequency and overweight or obesity among black girls. For black boys, the risk of being overweight or obese decreased "marginally" as family meals per week increased. For Hispanic boys who either lived in a single parent household or lived in less educated households (meaning the most-educated family member had either finished high school or completed fewer years of school), eating more family meals actually increased the risk of being overweight or obese.