Family Meals Curb Teen Eating Disorders

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与家人一起就餐可防止女孩饮食失调
Jennifer Warner

January 8, 2008 — Teenage girls who eat meals with their families may develop healthier eating habits and avoid eating disorders like bulimia, according to a new study.
2008.1.8-据一项新研究称，若与家人一起就餐十几岁的女孩可能会养成更健康的饮食习惯并避免像易饿症这样的进食障碍疾病。
Researchers found teenage girls who ate five or more family meals per week were less likely to resort to extreme dieting measures like using diet pills or laxatives, binge eating, and vomiting to control their weight.
研究人员发现，如果十几岁的女孩每周与家人一起进餐五次以上，她们为了控制体重采用像服用节食丸或泻药、暴食及呕吐等偏激饮食行为的可能性就较小。
The results suggest that encouraging family meals may be an effective way to combat the growing problem of eating disorders among teenage girls.
该研究结果说明鼓励家庭聚餐可能是防止十几岁女孩子进食障碍疾病的有效途径。
Family Meals Promote Healthy Eating
家庭聚餐有助于养成健康的饮食习惯
In the study, published in the January issue of Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine, researchers surveyed 2,516 adolescents at 31 Minnesota schools in 1999 and again in 2004. The students answered questions about how often they ate with their families as well as their body mass index (BMI, a measure of weight in relation to height), eating behaviors, and feelings of family connectedness.
发表在一月份《Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine》杂志上的一篇文章称，研究人员在1999年调查了明尼苏达州31所中学的2516名青少年，并于2004年进行了再次调查。学生们需要回答一些诸如体重指数（BMI一种相对于身高的体重参数）、饮食习惯、家庭情感沟通以及多久与家人聚餐一次等问题。
The results showed that teenage girls who reported eating five or more family meals each week in 1999 were much less likely to report using extreme dieting measures that could potentially lead to an eating disorder to control their weight five years later.
该结果显示，1999年报告与家人每周聚餐五次以上的女孩，五年后用可能导致进食障碍的极端节食办法来控制体重的可能性更小。
For example, 26% of girls who ate family meals fewer than five times a week reported using self-induced vomiting and use of laxatives, diet pills, or diuretics to control their weight compared with 17% of those who ate five or more family meals per week. The protective effect of family meals persisted regardless of the girls' socioeconomic status, body mass index, or feelings of family connectedness.
例如，与家人聚餐每周少于五次的女孩使用自诱导性呕吐、服用泻药、节食丸或利尿剂来控制体重的人数占26%，而与家人聚餐超过每周五次的女孩仅为17%。排除这些女孩子的社会经济地位、体重指数及家庭情感沟通等因素后，家庭聚餐的保护效应仍存在。
Researchers say these extreme weight control measures are associated with a number of negative physical and psychological effects as well as eating disorders.
研究人员称，这些极端的体重控制措施除了引发进食障碍外，还会导致很多不良的身体和心理影响。
Same Effect Not Found in Teenage Boys
同样的作用未出现在十几岁的男孩子身上
The same relationship, however, was not found among teenage boys. Regular family meals were not associated with lower rates of extreme dieting measures among the girls' male classmates.
然而，同样的作用并未出现在男孩子身上。对于男孩子，规律的家庭聚餐与降低极端节食行为比率间并没有联系。
Researcher Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, PhD, MPH, RD, and colleagues at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis say the reasons behind the gender difference are unclear.
明尼苏达州立大学的Dianne Neumark-Sztainer PhD, MPH, RD及其同事称性别差别的原因尚不清楚。
\"There is also the possibility that adolescent boys and girls have different experiences at family meals,\" write the researchers. \"For example, girls may have more involvement in food preparation and other food-related tasks, which may play a protective role in the development of disordered eating behaviors. Finally, family meals may offer more benefits to adolescent girls, who may be more sensitive to and likely to be influenced by interpersonal and familial relationships than are adolescent boys.\"
“也可能是因为男孩子和女孩子在家庭聚餐中有不同的体验，”研究人员称。“例如，女孩可能参与准备食物和其他与食物相关的工作，而这些可能对不正常饮食习惯有一定的预防作用。而家庭聚餐对青春期女孩子更有利，可能主要是因为她们比男孩子更敏感，更容易受到人与人之间及家庭间关系的影响。”