Every adult knows that it’s nice to sit down for lunch, to relax for a bit and fully give into lunch time. No surprise, but this also goes for our kids. If they don’t get enough time to eat lunch, they’ll choose the quick and unhealthy snacks. A new study shows that children who enjoy a longer lunch period eat healthier meals. Researchers reviewed a thousand students from six schools in Massachusetts that had lunch periods of between 20 and 30 minutes in length. Students with less than 20 minutes to eat their lunches consumed 13 percent less of their meals and 12 percent less of their vegetables, compared to students who had at least 25 minutes for lunch. Students with even shorter lunch-breaks were less likely to eat a piece of fruit, compared to the others. Shorter lunch times arise because of a long waiting line in the school cafeteria, or classes running late. Something to pay attention to, this study shows.
This article was originally published on September 14, 2015
