Employees who work long hours at their desks face the risk of weight gain due to limited movement. However, a recent study found that altering the food menu for these employees may help reduce that risk. The findings of a new study conducted by researchers from the University of Cambridge confirmed that a simple change to employees' food options during break times can assist in decreasing the likelihood of weight gain.
It is usually easy to consume a lot of food at the workplace cafeteria during lunch after a morning filled with hunger from hard work.
**Modifying Menus**
Researchers from Cambridge conducted experiments to modify the choices on the menus at 19 restaurants by replacing some high-calorie products with low-calorie foods, according to the British newspaper "Daily Mail." The researchers also found that this led to an 11.5% decrease in the average daily calorie intake of employees. Dr. James Reynolds from the Behaviour and Health Research Unit at the University of Cambridge stated that adults in the UK consume on average 200-300 excess calories per day.
**Reducing Portion Sizes**
The study demonstrated that reducing meal sizes and the availability of high-calorie options in cafeterias could significantly contribute to reducing excess calories as part of strategies to address obesity. The study included cases of 20,327 employees who frequented workplace canteens or nearby cafeterias over a period of 25 weeks.
Professor Dame Theresa Marteau, the chief researcher of the study and director of the Behaviour and Health Research Unit at Cambridge, noted that many interventions aimed at reducing calorie consumption, like mass media campaigns, generally have little impact but can exacerbate health inequalities, primarily benefiting those in non-manual jobs. She emphasized the need to find interventions that work across all sectors, as the study suggests that relatively simple changes to workplace menus and other cafeterias could make a significant contribution to addressing obesity across all demographics, especially if applied to lunch menus in schools and universities as well.
