Background: Obesity is a serious issue and continues to increase with over 300 million obese adults in the World. The rise in obesity increases the risk of numerous chronic diseases, which in turn increases medical cost to treat these diseases. These medical costs have a financial impact on many industries that absorb the higher cost. There is additional cost to industries associated with obesity including decreased productivity and an increase in absenteeism. There are studies that support the fact that a modest reduction in weight can improve risk factors of obesity.
Methods: A Nutrition Guide (NG) was developed to assist a group of workers at The Kroger Co. with a BMI of >30 to make healthier choices when grocery shopping, cooking and planning meals or snacks. The guide focuses on eliminating or reducing three key ingredients (S.S.S) saturated fat, salt and sugar. It also addresses portion control and serving sizes. A Nutrition Evaluation Assessment Tool (NEAT) was also developed to measure the impact the NG could have on changing the behavior of the employee group in making healthier choices.
Conclusion: Studies of wellness programs in work settings have shown results of improving healthy behaviors of those that participate in the program. Wellness programs offer nutrition interventions, which include a variety of education tools to improve participant nutrition knowledge so they can make healthier choices. Many companies are interested in supporting wellness programs in hopes of improving employee's health, which in turn may reduce medical cost and absenteeism, and also improve work satisfaction.