Girls that eat with their families are less likely to develop eating disorders, a study says.

New research shows girls who regularly have   21  meals are much less likely to adopt extreme weight control 22  such as vomiting (嘔吐), using laxatives (瀉藥)or diet pills.

A study  23  more than 2500 American high school students found that girls who ate five or more family meals a week had a much healthier 24  with food in later life.

The research,  25  in international magazine Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, polled students aged 13 to 17 in 1999 who were  26  five years later. Regular family meals were found to have a protective effect 27  the girls’ age, weight, socio-economic status,  28 habits or relationship with her family.

Experts say doctors should  29  families to have dinner at the table  30  on the couch in front of the television to 31serious eating disorders.

Belinda Dalton, director of eating disorders clinic The Oak House, said  32  with family helped "normalize"(正�；�) young people's relationship with food.

"When the young are feeling that they're not dealing properly, they  33  something that they can control and food is something  34   and accessible for them to control. 35  , if they're sitting with their family on a regular basis then their family can be more in  36  of their eating," Ms Dalton said. "It's about young people feeling  37  their family and that builds self-esteem (自尊) and sense of 38  and that works very actively against someone developing an eating disorder."

An eating disorders expert, Kirsty Greenwood, said meal times were often difficult for sufferers. "It's typical that they feel very   39  of their eating habits and often won't eat with other people. Perhaps it's because they haven't  40  the importance of the family meal in their growing up," she said.