Spending just a few minutes more at each family meal could significantly improve the health of children from low income families, a new study suggests.

It is already known that people from lower income families, including children, tend to have poorer health than people from higher income families. One of these health issues is obesity.

According to US scientists, obesity in children from low income families is a complex issue. There can be many contributing factors, including having a mother with little education, being part of a single-parent family and not having easy access to healthy foods.

However, the team from the University of Illinois found that children from low income families who spent just three or four extra minutes eating with their families at mealtimes were much more likely to have a normal weight.

The scientists monitored over 200 family mealtimes, looking at issues such as how important sitting down together was to families.

They found that even a couple of minutes more at each mealtime made a big difference.

"Children whose families engaged with each other over a 20-minute meal four times a week weighed significantly less than kids who left the table after 15 to 17 minutes. Over time, those extra minutes per meal add up and become really powerful," explained Barbara Fiese, director of the university's Family Resiliency Program.

She said that three to four extra minutes per meal ‘made a healthy weight more likely'.

Families who made mealtimes an important part of their life were also less likely to have an overweight or obese child, as were families who talked more during their meals.

However economic factors still played a role. Overall, children from single-parent families were more likely to be overweight or obese than children from two-parent families.

Children from areas with high levels of poverty were also more likely to have weight problems.

The scientists said that showing low income families how to make the most out of their mealtimes is a ‘workable intervention'.

"This is something we can target and teach. It's much more difficult to change factors such as marital status, maternal education or neighborhood poverty," Ms Fiese pointed out.

However, she acknowledged that many low income families do not have the time, resources or ability to communicate well with each other.

She said that programmes aimed at low income families should include topics such as time management, cooking lessons, stress management and shopping strategies.

"It's also important to recognise the increasing diversity of families and their sometimes complex living arrangements that may challenge their abilities to plan ahead and arrange a single time to communicate with each other," she added.

Details of these findings are published in the journal, Economics & Human Biology.