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Diet and Health in the Workplace

A special issue of Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643). This special issue belongs to the section "Nutritional Epidemiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2021) | Viewed by 8340

Special Issue Editor

Non-Communicable Diseases Unit, Institute of Tropical Medicine, B-2000 Antwerp, Belgium
Interests: non-communicable diseases; obesity; diabetes; dietary patterns; lifestyle; malnutrition; double burden of malnutrition; vulnerable populations; effectiveness of dietary interventions; modeling; epidemiology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

Employees spend a large part of their day in the workplace and are likely to eat one or more meals, and snacks while there. Work, both as an individual’s proximal environment as well as the specific job characteristics, markedly influence employees’ lifestyle choices, including their eating habits. Factors like the length of daily working hours affect individuals’ food choices and impact other health objectives. Moreover, jobs with non-standard working hours are becoming a necessity in most sectors of the modern 24-h society. Shift workers, i.e., employees that work outside the traditional nine to five daytime hours, are increasingly popular and in demand. Shift work, rotational shifts, or even remote working can potentially disrupt not only healthy lifestyles, but also individuals’ resting patterns and circadian rhythm, influencing sleep–wake cycles, eating habits and digestion, and other physiological processes, such as body temperature regulation, and metabolism. Circadian disturbances have been linked to chronic health conditions, such as sleep disorders, excess weight, and poor overall cardiovascular health. However, these associations could be also explained by shift work-induced changes in lifestyle habits, such as smoking, physical activity, healthy eating and alcohol consumption. Understanding the complex interplay of personal, environmental and socioeconomic factors in workers could help to implement appropriate prevention strategies at the right time and in the right place. Indeed, because of the time we spend at work, workplaces offer a unique opportunity to increase our awareness of healthy eating and the role it has in overall health. There is a wealth of studies on workplace interventions to improve the health of staff, building healthier individuals and environments, but our understanding of the most impactful programs is limited. These wellness programs are becoming part of employers’ offerings to their staff in order to lower health care costs and improve employee health and productivity. This Special Issue is dedicated to exploring the determinants of the health status of workers and uncovering work-related variables that influence lifestyle in order to integrate this knowledge into facilitating healthier working settings that may ultimately have an impact on health.

Prof. Dr. José Luis Peñalvo
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • workplace
  • wellness programs
  • lifestyle

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 315 KiB  
Article
Work Shift, Lifestyle Factors, and Subclinical Atherosclerosis in Spanish Male Workers: A Mediation Analysis
by José L. Peñalvo, Elly Mertens, Ainara Muñoz-Cabrejas, Montserrat León-Latre, Estíbaliz Jarauta, Martín Laclaustra, José M. Ordovás, José Antonio Casasnovas, Irina Uzhova and Belén Moreno-Franco
Nutrients 2021, 13(4), 1077; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13041077 - 26 Mar 2021
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2743
Abstract
(1) Background: Working night shifts has been associated with altered circadian rhythms, lifestyle habits, and cardiometabolic risks. No information on the potential association of working shift and the presence of atherosclerosis is available. The aim of this study was to quantify the association [...] Read more.
(1) Background: Working night shifts has been associated with altered circadian rhythms, lifestyle habits, and cardiometabolic risks. No information on the potential association of working shift and the presence of atherosclerosis is available. The aim of this study was to quantify the association between different work shifts and the presence of subclinical atherosclerosis objectively measured by imaging. (2) Methods: Analyses were conducted on the baseline data of the Aragon Workers Health Study (AWHS) cohort, including information on 2459 middle-aged men. Categories of shift work included central day shift, rotating morning-evening or morning-evening-night shift, and night shift. The presence of atherosclerotic plaques was assessed by 2D ultrasound in the carotid and femoral vascular territories. Multivariable logistic models and mediation analysis were conducted to characterize and quantify the association between study variables. (3) Results: Participants working night or rotating shifts presented an overall worse cardiometabolic risk profile, as well as more detrimental lifestyle habits. Workers in the most intense (morning-evening-night) rotating shift presented higher odds of subclinical atherosclerosis (odds ratio: 1.6; 95% confidence interval: 1.12 to 2.27) compared to workers in the central shift, independently of the presence of lifestyle and metabolic risk factors. A considerable (21%) proportion of this association was found to be mediated by smoking, indicating that altered sleep-wake cycles have a direct relationship with the early presence of atherosclerotic lesions. (4) Conclusions: Work shifts should be factored in during workers health examinations, and when developing effective workplace wellness programs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diet and Health in the Workplace)
14 pages, 675 KiB  
Article
Identifying Clusters of Adherence to Cardiovascular Risk Reduction Behaviors and Persistence with Medication in New Lipid-Lowering Drug Users. Impact on Healthcare Utilization
by Sara Malo, María José Rabanaque, Lina Maldonado, Belén Moreno-Franco, Armando Chaure-Pardos, María Jesús Lallana, María Pilar Rodrigo and Isabel Aguilar-Palacio
Nutrients 2021, 13(3), 723; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13030723 - 25 Feb 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1863
Abstract
We sought to identify specific profiles of new lipid-lowering drug users based on adherence to a healthy lifestyle and persistence with medication, and to characterize co-morbidities, co-treatments, and healthcare utilization for each of the profiles identified. Observational study in 517 participants in the [...] Read more.
We sought to identify specific profiles of new lipid-lowering drug users based on adherence to a healthy lifestyle and persistence with medication, and to characterize co-morbidities, co-treatments, and healthcare utilization for each of the profiles identified. Observational study in 517 participants in the Aragon Workers’ Health Study (AWHS) without previous cardiovascular disease (CVD) and who initiated lipid-lowering therapy. Data were collected from workplace medical examinations and administrative health databases (2010–2018). Using cluster analysis, we identified distinct patient profiles based on persistence with therapy and lifestyle. We then compared characteristics, morbidity, and healthcare utilization across clusters. Participants were aggregated into four clusters based on persistence with therapy, smoking status, adherence to Mediterranean diet, and physical activity. In cluster 1 (n = 113), comprising those with a healthiest lifestyle (14.2% smokers, 84.0% with medium-high adherence to Mediterranean diet, high physical activity), 16.8% were persistent. In cluster 3 (n = 108), comprising patients with the least healthy lifestyle (100% smokers, poor adherence to the Mediterranean diet, low level of physical activity), all were non-persistent. Clusters 2 (n = 150) and 4 (n = 146) both comprised patients with intermediate lifestyle behaviors, but differed in terms of persistence (100 and 0%, respectively). Compared with other clusters, the burden of morbidity, cardiovascular score, and healthcare utilization were lower in cluster 1. The healthy adherer effect was only observed in new lipid-lowering drug users of certain profiles. Furthermore, we found that differences in adherence to lifestyle and medication recommendations for CVD prevention influenced morbidity burden and healthcare utilization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diet and Health in the Workplace)
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15 pages, 1364 KiB  
Article
Dose–Response Relationship between Western Diet and Being Overweight among Teachers in Malaysia
by Jui Yee Eng, Foong Ming Moy, Awang Bulgiba and Sanjay Rampal
Nutrients 2020, 12(10), 3092; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12103092 - 11 Oct 2020
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3074
Abstract
The rising prevalence of overweight and obesity is partly due to nutrition transition. The reported association between dietary patterns and overweight/obesity has been controversial because of inconsistent results and weak observed associations. Although it has been hypothesized that an unhealthy diet can increase [...] Read more.
The rising prevalence of overweight and obesity is partly due to nutrition transition. The reported association between dietary patterns and overweight/obesity has been controversial because of inconsistent results and weak observed associations. Although it has been hypothesized that an unhealthy diet can increase obesity risk, none of the previous studies have examined the dose–response association using nonlinear dose–response analyses. This study aimed to examine the dose–response association between major dietary patterns and overweight/obesity. This was a cross-sectional study involving teachers selected through stratified multistage sampling from public schools in three Malaysian states. Dietary intake was assessed using a food frequency questionnaire, and two major dietary patterns (Western and Prudent diet) were extracted using factor analysis. Logistic regression followed by trend analysis was used to test the difference in odds of overweight and obesity in each quintile of diet score. A further analysis using restricted cubic spline models was performed to examine the dose–response associations of dietary patterns with odds of overweight/obesity. The logistic regression analysis showed that participants with the highest quintile of Western diet score were 1.4 times more likely to be overweight/obese compared to those in the lowest quintile (95% CI: 1.11, 1.83, p-trend < 0.001). The odds of overweight/obesity showed a significant increasing trend across quintiles of Western diet among both men and women (p-trend < 0.001). In the dose–response analysis, a positive linear association (Pnonlinearity = 0.6139) was observed where overweight/obesity was more likely to occur among participants with a Western diet score greater than a mean score of zero. There was an inverse trend of odds of overweight/obesity across quintiles of Prudent diet score, significant only for men (p for trend < 0.001). Linear association was found between Prudent diet score and odds of overweight/obesity among both men (Pnonlinearity = 0.6685) and women (Pnonlinearity = 0.3684) in the dose–response analysis. No threshold at the level of adherence to Prudent diet was linked to odds of overweight/obesity. Dose–response analysis indicated that women with a Western diet score greater than zero were more likely to be overweight or obese among women. In men, higher adherence to Western diet was associated with increased odds of overweight/obesity, while greater adherence to Prudent diet decreased the odds of overweight/obesity. Promoting and enhancing the consumption of Prudent diet and limit in Western diet may be used to guide the development of evidence-based diet interventions to curb overweight and obesity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diet and Health in the Workplace)
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