We’re all busy. We all have things to do. In an age when we value efficiency to such a high degree, we are all looking for ways to multitask and corners to cut. Fast food, TV dinners, drive thrus, meals on the go, snack bars, Hungry? Why wait?: it seems that one facet of life that is commonly streamlined is the meal.

Of course, we know that such routes to alimentary fulfillment are not optimal for our health. Fewer nutrients, more trans fat, high caloric content, and that nasty postprandial bloating. But, apparently, there's more!

The Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine report a study showing that teenage girls benefit from sitting down to eat meals with their families. This idea goes beyond, though includes, the idea of direct nutrition to encompass a psychological element as well.

The study is a longitudinal evaluation. In 1999, 2500 girls between the ages of 13 and 17 were polled regarding their eating habits. Follow-up investigation has found that the girls who eat with their families at least five times a week have much healthier relationships with food.

Of course, this is a correlational research study, so we are not able to disentangle the various potential causes from one another. But at the same time, this study hints at the idea that family meals help to encourage young girls to form healthier connections with eating. In fact, these results were found to be independent of factors including family relationship, socio-economic status, and weight. Such studies can never provide concrete evidence of causal mechanisms, but some researchers have hypotheses regarding these results.

A little speculative, perhaps, but interesting nonetheless.

And boys? Well…it appears family meals had no such effects on the male population.

And just in case you’re wondering, Fatality eats. And eats a lot. Though her family right now consists of two dogs.