Novel dietary intervention program “COMB meal program” approaching health and presenteeism: Two pilot studies

Abstract

• We developed a novel dietary intervention program using a nutritionally balanced diet “COMB meal”. • The COMB meal is defined by 33 kinds of nutrients. • This novel program improved body weight, body mass index, waist circumference, visceral fat area, and number of defecations in two single-arm open-label pilot studies. In one trial, presenteeism improved. • Subgroup analyses revealed positive effects on systolic blood pressure, occupancy of Faecalibacterium , number of times a participant defecated, and presenteeism in both trials. Presenteeism is a major issue faced by workplaces around the world. While nutritional education has been well studied for its resolution, few studies have reported its effectiveness. Promoting worker health is also a major issue. To solve these problems, we developed a novel dietary intervention using nutritionally balanced meals, “COMpletely Balanced meal (COMB meal)”. Two single-arm open-label trials were conducted; employees at two major companies consumed these meals every weekday for four weeks, replacing breakfast and lunch. The comprehensive score of the Work Limitation Questionnaire-Japanese version was significantly improved in one trial and it was significantly improved in the presenteeism subgroup of both trials. Body weight, Body Mass Index, waist circumference, and visceral fat decreased and the number of defecations increased significantly in both trials. Serious adverse effects were not observed. This study is the first to show multiple effects of dietary interventions, including improvement in presenteeism.