A March 2017 study by Ohio Colleges of Medicine GRC concludes that, "How often you are eating family meals may not be the most important thing. It could be that what you are doing during these meals matters more…This highlights the importance of thinking critically about what is going on during those meals, and whether there might be opportunities to turn the TV off or do more of your own food preparation,"
The study found that, “adults who reported never watching TV or videos during family meals had significantly lower odds of obesity compared with peers who always watched something during mealtimes. Those whose family meals were all home-cooked also had lower odds of obesity than other adults who ate some or no home-cooked meals.”