Kids, asthma and mealtimes
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From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I'm Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.
A study indicates that caring for a kid's asthma goes better in families that show caring around the dinner table. Researcher Barbara Fiese of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign saw that in data on some 200 upstate New York families with kids with persistent asthma.
Fiese says families with better quality at mealtime had kids who were more likely to stay on their medication routine and have better lung function. So she says:
``Turn off the television, turn off the cell phone, and then be positively engaged. Check in with your kids to see how they're feeling that day. And pay attention not only to their health symptoms but to what's going on in their daily life.'' (12 seconds)
The study in the journal Child Development was supported by the National Institutes of Health.
Learn more at hhs.gov.