NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The benefits of sitting down to a family dinner are lost if the television is on during the meal, according to a survey of more than 1,300 low-income families with preschool children.

The survey found that the probability that children were offered at least two fruits or three vegetables each day increased with each night the family ate dinner together. However, the probability of serving fruits or vegetables decreased with each night the TV was on during the family dinner.

"The benefits of eating dinner as a family do not overcome the negative effects of having the television on during dinner," Lynn S. Edmunds, a registered dietitian with the New York State Department of Health, Albany, told Reuters Health.

Parents should "turn the television off during family mealtimes," she advised.

Hispanic and black parents reported having the TV on during dinner more often than white parents, the investigators report in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. Hispanics and whites ate dinner together more often than black families. Less educated parents also were more apt to have the TV on during the family dinner.

The health benefits of fruits and vegetables are well known; diets high in fruits and vegetables are associated with decreased risk of heart and blood vessel disease as well as certain types of cancer.

"Given that lifelong food preferences are established early in life, it is important for parents to foster mealtime environments that encourage healthful eating," Edmunds said.

It's been shown that children who eat a lot of fruits and vegetables during childhood are apt to maintain this healthy eating pattern into adulthood, she and her colleagues note.

So, by all means, make time to eat as a family, they advise. Just do it without the TV on.

SOURCE: Journal of the American Dietetic Association, April 200

REUTERS