Abstract P424: Worksite Food Purchases Are Associated With Employees’ Overall Dietary Intake and Health

Abstract

Introduction: Most Americans spend half their waking hours at work. We hypothesized that the healthfulness of worksite food purchases was associated with employees’ overall dietary intake and cardiometabolic health. Methods: Participants were 602 hospital employees who regularly used worksite cafeterias and enrolled in a worksite nutrition study in 2016-18. All hospital cafeterias used traffic-light labels (green = healthy, yellow = less healthy, red = unhealthy). We calculated the proportion of participants’ green- and red-labeled items purchased during a 3 month baseline period. Participants completed 2 online Automated Self-Administered 24-hour dietary recalls used to calculate a baseline Healthy Eating Index (HEI) score (range 0-100, higher = healthier diet). Additional baseline measures included BMI, blood pressure (BP), and HbA1c. Hypertension (HTN) and prediabetes/diabetes (pre-DM/DM) diagnoses were determined by self-report and/or medication use and/or baseline measures (HTN: systolic BP ≥ 150 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥ 90 mmHg; pre-DM/DM: Hb A1c ≥ 5.7). Linear and logistic regression analyses examined differences in HEI scores and cardiometabolic variables by tertiles of green- or red-labeled purchases, adjusting for age, sex, race, ethnicity, education, and number of purchases. Results: Mean age of participants was 43.6 yrs; 79% (N=478) were female and 81% (N=488) white. Mean BMI was 28.3 kg/m 2 (SD: 6.5), 63% (N=377) were overweight/obese, 21% (N=124) had HTN, and 27% (N=160) had pre-DM/DM. Mean number of items purchased during the observation period was 112 (SD: 21); mean baseline HEI score was 60.4 (SD: 12.5). The table shows that proportions of green and red items purchased were associated with diet quality (HEI score) and cardiometabolic risk (BMI, HTN, DM). Conclusions: Food purchases at work were associated with employees’ overall diet quality and cardiometabolic risk factors. Results suggest that interventions to promote healthier worksite food choices have potential to impact overall health.