It should come as no surprise that the more stressed parents are at work， the greater the burden on their family. Its also probably not a surprise that this dynamic can negatively affect a familys nutrition. After all， the more time parents spend working， the less time and energy they have to plan and prepare healthful meals.

Previously， most studies have focused on the role of working mothers. Now， a study that looks at the family as a whole， and at the role of fathers in particular， adds a new opinion to the relationship between work stress and family nutrition.

Mothers work related stress is still a central factor in how well families eat because they typically do most of the food shopping and cooking. But fathers work related stress has a large impact， too. The study found that when mom or dad experience high levels of work related stress， their families are eating one-and-a-half fewer family meals per week， and the parents themselves report eating fewer fruits and vegetables， more fast food， and are less likely to eat breakfast regularly.

Its worth noting that the study looked mainly at low income families who belonged to ethnic or minority groups， so the findings dont necessarily apply directly to other types of families. But the implications are wide ranging.

When it comes to family nutrition， the researchers say， the entire family， not just moms， plays a role， even kids. Teaching kids， especially teenagers， to help with grocery shopping and to cook actual meals， instead of just popping a frozen pizza in the microwave， could be an important piece of the puzzle in helping families improve their eating habits.

通常來(lái)說(shuō)，父母的工作壓力越大，他們背負(fù)的家庭負(fù)擔(dān)也就越大。那么，這種狀態(tài)會(huì)對(duì)家庭的飲食健康產(chǎn)生不良影響也就變得不足為怪了。畢竟當(dāng)父母工作的時(shí)間越來(lái)越長(zhǎng)時(shí)，他們?cè)谟?jì)劃和準(zhǔn)備健康飲食上所花費(fèi)的時(shí)間和精力就會(huì)越來(lái)越少。

以前，大多數(shù)的研究關(guān)注的都是職場(chǎng)母親的作用?，F(xiàn)在，一項(xiàng)研究在觀察家庭這一整體方面，特別是父親在工作壓力和家庭飲食的關(guān)系上增添了新的觀點(diǎn)。

母親的工作壓力在家庭飲食上仍然起著重要作用，因?yàn)橘?gòu)物和做飯大多都由母親負(fù)責(zé)。但是父親的工作壓力也會(huì)對(duì)家庭飲食產(chǎn)生很大影響。研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，當(dāng)父母都承受著很大的工作壓力時(shí)，他們家庭每周的用餐量會(huì)減少一頓半；同時(shí)父母自己也表示水果蔬菜會(huì)吃得更少，更多是吃快餐，一般也不會(huì)規(guī)律地吃早餐。

值得注意的是，這項(xiàng)研究主要針對(duì)少數(shù)低收入家庭，因此研究發(fā)現(xiàn)并不一定適用于其他家庭。但研究揭示的意義還是深遠(yuǎn)的。

談到家庭飲食健康，研究人員表示，在一個(gè)家庭里，不僅僅母親在飲食上起著作用，甚至孩子也會(huì)。在改善家庭飲食習(xí)慣中，十分重要的一點(diǎn)就是要教育孩子，特別是青少年去雜貨店買東西并且學(xué)著做飯，而不是僅僅讓他們把一塊涼披薩放到微波爐里加熱。