Welcome  to  public  health  moment from  the  University  of  Minnesota. Girls  who  eat  meals  regularly  with their  families  are  less  likely  to  use  diet  pills, laxatives,  or other  extreme  measures  to  control  their  weight. That's  according  to  a  five  year  study  involving more  than  2,500  Minnesota  adolescents. Diane  Newmark  Steiner,  a University  of  Minnesota  epidemiologist,  led  the  study. Our  findings  were  stronger  in  girls  than  in  boys. We  don't  really  know  why  this  is. However,  given  the  high, the  higher  prevalence  of  disordered eating  behaviors  among  girls, we  really  think  these  findings  are  quite meaningful  and  have  implications  for  families. Newmark  Steiner  recommends  that  families try  to  spend  more  time  together  at  the  dinner  table. Eating  meals  together  provides opportunities  for  serving  healthy  food, for  serving  as  role  models  for our  children  and  how  we  eat  and  how  we  talk  about  weight. It  provides  an  opportunity for  connecting  with  our  teenagers, and  it  provides  an  opportunity  for  monitoring. This  doesn't  mean  moms  need  to  stop  working and  go  back  to  being  full  time  homemakers,  but  rather, we  need  to  look  for  creative  and  flexible  ways for  families  to  come  to  the  table together  with  another  public  health  moment. I'm  John  Finnegan.