title: Associations between eating meals, watching TV while eating meals and weight status among children, ages 10-12 years in eight European countries: the ENERGY cross-sectional study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To assess the association of eating meals, and never watching TV while eating meals, with weight status among children, ages 10-12 years across Europe.
  
  
  METHODS
  7915 children (mean age: 11.5 years) in eight European countries (Belgium, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Spain and Switzerland) completed a questionnaire at school. Data on meals eaten the day before questionnaire administration and the frequency of eating meals while watching TV were collected. Height and weight of the children were objectively assessed. Multinomial and binary regression analyses were conducted to test associations of eating meals (adjusted for gender and ethnicity) and never watching TV while eating meals (adjusted for gender, ethnicity and total TV time) with overweight/obesity, and to test for country- and socio-demographic differences.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The proportions of children reporting eating breakfast, lunch and dinner were 85%, 96%, and 93% respectively, and 55%, 46% and 32% reported to never watch TV at breakfast, lunch and dinner respectively. The children who ate breakfast (OR = 0.6 (95% CI 0.5-0.7)) and dinner (OR = 0.4 (95% CI 0.3-0.5)), had lower odds of being overweight compared to those who did not. The children who never watched TV at lunch (OR = 0.7 (95% CI 0.7-0.8)) and dinner (OR = 0.8 (95% CI 0.7-0.9)) had lower odds of being overweight compared to those who watched TV at the respective meals.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The odds of being overweight was lower for children who ate breakfast and dinner compared to those who did not eat the respective meals. The odds of being overweight was lower for children who reported to never watch TV at lunch and dinner compared to those who did. A focus towards meal frequency and watching TV during meals in longitudinal and interventions studies in prevention of overweight and obesity, may contribute to a better understanding of causality.
authors.forename: Frøydis N
authors.initials: FN
authors.lastname: Vik
authors.forename: Helga Birgit
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Bjørnarå
authors.forename: Nina C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Overby
authors.forename: Nanna
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lien
authors.forename: Odysseas
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Androutsos
authors.forename: Lea
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Maes
authors.forename: Natasa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jan
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kovacs
authors.forename: Luis A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Moreno
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dössegger
authors.forename: Yannis
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Manios
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brug
authors.forename: Elling
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bere
mesh_terms: D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D002149:Energy Intake; D005060:Europe; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D062407:Meals; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013690:Television