Nutrition and Optimum Life Course

Dr Wendy Hall, King’s College London

One of the specialty interest areas that falls within the Nutrition and Optimum Life Course theme is workplace health. This is currently a highly dynamic topic as many workplaces are adapting to new ways of hybrid working. The recent shift in working patterns affects mainly office-based jobs whereas other workers continue to experience persistent challenges in following a healthy diet in their workplaces, for example, workers who may be required to work shifts and those in frontline public services. Identifying the specific barriers to following a healthy diet is essential to improving health and weight management in these employees.

The British Dietetic Association (BDA) Work Ready programme White Paper “Supporting healthier working lives through dietitian-led wellness initiatives”

(1) estimates that working adults consume approximately 60% of total daily food intake in their workplace. Key findings of the report included that diet and obesity are important factors in productivity loss at work and larger organisations that instigate health promotion interventions are likely to find that the costs are offset by the productivity gains (BDA, 2017). There is scope to address specific needs in different types of workplaces to tailor diet and lifestyle interventions for different groups. For example, men are less likely than women to participate in lifestyle interventions, and therefore workplace wellness programmes in male-dominated workplaces could be a particularly effective way to improve male health outcomes.

The Workplace Diet and Health Special Interest Group was launched in February this year and held a kick off meeting on 19th April 2022. The meeting was attended by diverse range of members (10 in total) attending from academia, industry, and nutrition and dietetics practice. The reasons why members wanted to join the Workplace Diet and Health SIG were identified during the meeting, including: keeping up to date with the evidence; raising the profile of workplace nutrition and health; networking; and knowledge transfer. SIG activities were planned for the next 12 months, including a roundtable meeting to be held before the end of the year to determine research priorities around workplace diet and health. Longer term goals over the next couple of years include a member-led scoping review which would have the potential to feed into a White Paper, and a halfday symposium. Find out more about the WDH SIG overleaf, or If you would like to join, please go to https://www. nutritionsociety.org/workplace-dietand-health

Reference: British Dietetic Association. BDA Work Ready Programme [Internet]. 2017. Available from: https://www.bda.uk.com/uploads/assets/42d65148-95eb4eae-be5c1e89707c53c6/Work-Ready-White-Paper.pdf

New Special Interest Groups (SIGs) launched:

In addition to the two established SIGs overleaf, the Society is delighted to announce that two new SIGs have been launched in June 2022:

1) Diet and Health of Ethnic Minority Groups

2) Global School Health and Nutrition Scan to find out more: