“Ironically, family meals might do more for children's well-being and achievement than any soccer program or French-immersion class. When Doherty's colleagues at the university's Center for Adolescent Health and Development surveyed 4,746 Minneapolis/St. Paul middle school and high school students for Project EAT (Eating Among Teens), they found that the kids who sat down to meals most often with their families—seven or more times weekly—tended to have higher grade-point averages and were more well-adjusted in general than those who ate the fewest family meals (two or fewer per week). They were less likely to feel depressed or suicidal, to smoke cigarettes or use alcohol or marijuana—even when the researchers factored out issues like race, family structure and social class. "Family meals were a potentially protective factor in these kids' lives almost across the board," declares epidemiologist and study co-author Diane Neumark-Sztainer. “  Original Article Found at: http://www.healthline.com/eatingwell/etw-reclaiming-the-dinner-hour