Last Updated: 2003-06-03 13:04:59 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Teenagers who eat dinner with their parents are more likely to eat fruits, vegetables and dairy foods than those who usually dine without the company of mom or dad, study findings show.

Prior research has shown that children who do not eat dinner with their families are more likely to eat so-called TV dinners that require little or no preparation and that may be less nutritious.

The current findings suggest that family mealtimes may help adolescents eat healthier fare.

"Parents should make a concerted effort to coordinate schedules and bring the family together for mealtimes," Dr. Tami M. Videon told Reuters Health. "Family mealtimes are an opportunity to provide healthful choices as well as an example of healthful eating."

Now a professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and Montefiore Medical Center, Videon conducted the research while at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Videon and co-author Carolyn K. Manning analyzed dietary information from more than 18,000 adolescents who were involved in the ongoing National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.

Twenty percent of the adolescents said they usually skipped breakfast, the researchers report in the Journal of Adolescent Health. More than 70 percent said they had eaten fewer than two vegetable servings the previous day; 55 percent said they had eaten fewer than two servings of fruits; and 47 percent said they had eaten fewer than two servings of dairy foods.

Those who reported eating more than three meals a week with at least one parent present, however, were more likely to eat breakfast regularly and more likely to report healthier eating habits, the study findings indicate.

The U. S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services recommend that older children and adults eat three to five servings of vegetables, two to four servings of fruit and two to three servings of dairy foods every day.

Adolescents who reported eating four or five weekly meals with their parents were about 20 percent less likely than their peers to skip fruits, vegetables and dairy foods.

And, the researchers note, their fruit, vegetable and dairy consumption increased along with their number of family meals.

Nearly 70 percent ate at least four family meals per week, but about 30 percent of the teens said they ate fewer than three meals with a parent present, the report indicates.

In other findings, teenagers who were allowed to make their own decisions about what they ate were 25 percent more likely to skip breakfast, but they were no more likely than their peers to report a poor intake of fruits, vegetables or dairy products.

"Therefore, parents should not control what food adolescents are allowed to eat, but instead offer healthful options at mealtimes and be an example of good eating," Videon said.