Worksite nutrition program

Nutrition Research Newsletter, Oct, 2004

Dietary fat and low fruit and vegetable intake are linked to many chronic diseases, and the U.S. population intake does not meet the current recommendations. Interventions are needed that incorporate effective behavior-change principles and that can be delivered inexpensively to large segments of the population.

Employees at a corporate worksite were invited to participate in a program, delivered entirely by e-mail, to reduce dietary fat and increase fruit and vegetable intake. Behavior-change principles underlying the intervention included tailoring to the participant's dietary lifestyle, baseline assessment and feedback about dietary intake, family participation, and goal setting. Assessment, tailoring, and delivery were fully automated.

The program was delivered weekly to participants' e-mail inboxes for 12 weeks. Each e-mail included information on nutrition or on the relationship between diet and health, dietary tips tailored to the individual, and small goals to try for the next week.

In this nonrandomized pilot study, the researchers assessed technical feasibility, acceptability to employees, improvement in Stage of Change, increase in fruit and vegetable consumption, and decrease in fat intake.

Approximately one-third (n = 84) of employees who were offered the 12-week program signed up for it, and satisfaction was high. There was significant improvement in Stage of Change: 74% of those not already at the top had forward movement. In addition, results suggest significant increase in fruit and vegetable consumption (0.73 times/day) and significant decrease in intake of fat sources (-0.39 times/day). The researchers found that this inexpensive program is feasible and appears to be effective.

G Block, T Block, P Wakimoto, C Block. Demonstration of an e-mailed worksite nutrition intervention program. Preventing Chronic Disease (October 2004) 1:4 [Correspondence: Gladys Block, PhD, Professor of Epidemiology, Director, Public Health Nutrition Program, 426 Warren Hall, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720. Telephone: 510-643-7896. E-mail: gblock@berkeley.edu.]