Shirasawa Takako, Ochiai Hirotaka, Yoshimoto Takahiko, Matoba Masaaki, Sunaga Yuma, Hoshino Hiromi, Kokaze Akatsuki
Department of Public Health, Showa University School of Medicine, 1-5-8 Hatanodai, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, 142-8555, Japan.
BMC Pediatr. 2018 Feb 7;18(1):36. doi: 10.1186/s12887-018-1041-y.
The decrease in the frequency of family meals among Asian youth is often lamented. In Japan, adolescents who eat breakfast alone might have an unhealthy diet, which increases the risk of overweight or obese. However, there are few studies on the relationship between eating dinner alone and overweight in Japanese adolescents. Here, we investigated if eating dinner alone is associated with being overweight in Japanese adolescents of each sex.
The participants consisted of 890 seventh graders (12-13 years of age) from the junior high schools of Ina, Japan who were recruited from 2011 to 2012. Information about eating dinner alone was obtained using a self-reported questionnaire, which was given to each participant. The participants were classified into the following three groups: does not eat alone, eats alone 1-2 times/week, or eats alone ≥3 times/week. A logistic regression model was used to examine the relationship between eating dinner alone and being overweight. The height and weight of each participant were measured. Childhood overweight status was defined using the body mass index cutoff points proposed by the International Obesity Task Force.
When compared with girls who did not eat dinner alone, a significantly increased odds ratio (OR) was observed among girls who ate dinner alone ≥1 time/week (adjusted OR = 2.78; 95% confidence interval = 1.21-6.38). In contrast, there was no statistically significant difference between eating dinner alone and being overweight among boys.
The present study found that eating dinner alone is associated with being overweight among adolescent girls in this community in Japan. Therefore, reducing the frequency of eating dinner alone might contribute to decreasing the risk for becoming overweight or obese among adolescent girls.
亚洲青少年家庭聚餐频率的下降常常令人惋惜。在日本，独自吃早餐的青少年可能饮食不健康，这会增加超重或肥胖的风险。然而，关于日本青少年独自吃晚餐与超重之间关系的研究很少。在此，我们调查了日本青少年中独自吃晚餐是否与超重有关，且按性别进行了分析。
参与者为2011年至2012年从日本伊那市初中招募的890名七年级学生（12 - 13岁）。通过向每位参与者发放的自我报告问卷获取独自吃晚餐的信息。参与者被分为以下三组：不独自用餐、每周独自用餐1 - 2次或每周独自用餐≥3次。使用逻辑回归模型来检验独自吃晚餐与超重之间的关系。测量了每位参与者的身高和体重。儿童超重状况根据国际肥胖特别工作组提出的体重指数切点来定义。
与不独自吃晚餐的女孩相比，每周独自吃晚餐≥1次的女孩的优势比（OR）显著增加（调整后的OR = 2.78；95%置信区间 = 1.21 - 6.38）。相比之下，男孩中独自吃晚餐与超重之间没有统计学上的显著差异。
本研究发现，在日本的这个社区，独自吃晚餐与青春期女孩超重有关。因此，减少独自吃晚餐的频率可能有助于降低青春期女孩超重或肥胖的风险。
