University of Queensland researchers working on the world's longest health study found teens who ate regularly with their family were less likely to be overweight.
Lead researcher, Dr Abdullah Al Mamun from UQ's School of Population Health said regular family meals could reduce snacking and make for healthier food and social habits.
"Eating together will enable the parent to have better knowledge of the child's food choices and amount that they tend to eat," Dr Mamun said of the study, which appears in the latest edition of American journal, Obesity Research.
The study found having a healthy maternal attitude to family eating and diet was more important than the frequency of shared meals.
Even though most mothers said they had a family meal at least once a day, only 43 percent of them said eating together was very or quite important.
The findings have been drawn from the world's longest running health study -- the Mater-University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy, which has followed the progress of Brisbane mothers and their families since 1981.
The survey of 3795 mothers and their teenagers was collected in Brisbane when the teenagers were at age 14, in 1995.
It showed about half the families ate red meat most days and one-fourth had fast food most days or two to three times per week.
Even though more than half of the families had children who played sports four to seven days a week about 40 percent still found enough time to watch five or more hours of TV a day.
Dr Mamun's paper was co-written, with Mater and University of Bristol researchers and fellow UQ researcher and Mater Study founder, Professor Jake Najman.
The Mater Study was started in 1981 by Professor Najman as a health and social study of 7223 pregnant women.
Researchers have followed the children's growth over the decades and study was widened to include prenatal, postnatal, childhood and adolescent periods of the child with those babies now in their early 20s.
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"Colorectal cancer imposes a significant burden of disease and all steps to improve and hone treatment regimens are an important undertaking," noted Dr Ake Berglund from Uppsala University, Sweden. "At ECCO we have seen evidence that irinotecan used with the bolus FLIRI schedule is a convenient treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer, with antitumour activity and toxicity comparable to the infused FOLFIRI regimen. Thus, patients can more easily be treated with a convenient bolus regimen without the need for a port and a pump."
Colorectal cancer, also known as bowel cancer is the third most common cancer in men and the second most common in women.1,2There are approximately 377,000 cases of colorectal cancer across Europe each year and it is the cause of just under 204,000 deaths annually. 1
Colorectal cancer can occur anywhere in the colon or rectum. Cells lining the inside of the bowel are constantly renewing themselves and when this process goes wrong abnormal cells can arise. These cells form polyps which can eventually turn cancerous. Some of these polyps are non-cancerous but others can spread through the bowel layers and to other parts of the body, often the liver.
Symptoms experienced include: blood in faeces, changes in bowel habits, unexplained weight loss and a lump in the abdomen. Risk factors are associated with: age, (normally affects people over 50) history of chronic bowel inflammation, diet (high in red meat and fat and low in vegetables), lack of exercise, obesity, smoking and alcohol and family history.
There are three main treatments for colorectal cancer, surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. If diagnosed early, surgery can be successful. Recently, innovations in chemotherapies such as irinotecan and experimental chemical agents are offering patients alternative treatments.
fecs.be/