News + Events  Can Your Friends Make You Fat?
By Jennifer Levitz The Wall Street Journal
July 26, 2007 Friendship offers support, laughter -- and the occasional spare tire. A study in this week's New England Journal of Medicine finds that social networks have an even greater effect on chances of becoming obese than genes do. The findings may help explain why obesity is rising in America despite widespread dieting and other weight-loss techniques, and why people's best efforts to slim down on their own are so often short-lived. They also suggest that public health initiatives to fight obesity should take social networks into account, and work with overweight people in groups, as organizations such as Weight Watchers International Inc. have done for years. Dr. Nicholas Christakis at Harvard medical school, lead author of the study, says the results indicate that behavioral "norms" shift depending on how people in a social circle look and act, even if they only meet once a year. "People might say, 'Look, Christakis is getting fat. It's okay for me to be obese as well." Social contacts propelled weight gains even among individuals a thousand miles apart, indicating that social proximity overrides geographic proximity. "It's become very fashionable to speak of an obesity epidemic," says Dr. Christakes. "But we wondered, in fact, is obesity really an epidemic, with person to person transmission? Was there a kind of social contagion?" The study found that indeed there was. A person's chance of becoming obese jumped 57% if he or she also had a friend who became obese during a given time. If one adult sibling became obese, the chance that the other would follow suit increased by 40%. These findings were particularly true if siblings and friends were of the same sex -- since, researchers say, people are more influenced by those they resemble than those they do not. Indeed, the chance of becoming obese rose 71% if it was a same-sex friend who gained the weight. The study examined 12,067 people who underwent repeated body measurements over 32 years as part of the Framingham Heart Study, considered the crown jewel of epidemiological studies. Over the years, each participant in the heart study was asked to list close friends and workplace contacts to allow doctors to track them down. Many of these friends, it turned out, were also part of the study, so their information was available to researchers.
Businesses getting workers, bottom lines in shape
By H.J. Cummins Minneapolis Star Tribune
August 2, 2007 If it's your friends who are making you fat, can your employer make you fit? That's the question now facing every workplace wellness program, after a recent big health study overwhelmingly fingered friendships as the reason people become obese. If a friend becomes obese, that increases a person's odds of also becoming obese by 171 percent, according to research on more than 12,000 people over 32 years published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The effect also worked in reverse, in the smaller numbers of people who lost weight. Families had less influence; neighbors had none. So how could your boss? Growing numbers of U.S. companies are installing wellness programs, as it becomes clear that chronic conditions such as obesity are the biggest-ticket items in their health insurance costs. A Watson Wyatt survey of U.S. employers showed that 74 percent will have health management programs next year, up from 64 percent this year. And some of these programs have been around long enough to demonstrate success, including one for the 1,400 Twin Cities employees of defense contractor BAE Systems, which saw health claim costs drop 3 to 4 percent a year over the past three years. A lot of credit goes to features that counteract the powerful lifestyle influences the new study documents, experts said, and they include on-site fitness centers, sports teams, midday walking pals and discounted insurance premiums for the health conscious.
Canadian workers relying on caffeine and sugar fix
By Martha Worboy CanWest News Service
August 2, 2007 Skipping meals throughout the day and usurping energy lows with coffee or high-sugar snacks have become common habits among Canadian workers, a new poll suggests. Almost half of those surveyed (49 per cent) said they've experienced noticeable energy slumps at least once a week on a work day. Although 77 per cent believe poor nutrition effects productivity, 42 per cent admitted to grabbing a coffee or sugary snack to get on with their day, according to the Decima Research poll. But, although consuming a cookie and a latte may provide an in-the-moment rush, it doesn't help energy in the long term, according to nutrition experts. Sugary and caffeinated snacks "set the body up on a yo-yo", registered nutritionist Kristen Schiener said in an interview with CanWest News Service. "You'll experience a surge of energy but then everything crashes." Schiener recommends people keep healthy snacks at work -- such as fruit, nuts and hard cheese -- for days when they're too busy for a break.
Guest Commentary: Oust junk food from break room
By Dr. Jason Eberhart-Phillips Sacramento Bee
Thursday, July 26, 2007 If you are an employer who cares about the health of your workers, you may want to take a critical look at the items for sale in the vending machines at your workplace. Vending machines are a fact of life in break rooms everywhere, from factories to offices to schools to medical clinics. While they provide a convenient pick-me-up for workers who must eat on the run, vending machines are often packed with items rich in fat, sugar and chemical additives. This means that employees looking for a healthy snack or beverage have few, if any, nutritious options to choose from in most workplace vending machines. New laws take effect this month to limit the sale of unhealthy foods to public school pupils in California, but when it comes to adults at work, anything goes. If you are an employer with one or more vending machines in your work site, take a look today at what you are feeding your employees. Chances are your machines are loaded with sugary sodas, candy bars, fried potato chips and other foods laden with trans fats, high fructose corn syrup and empty calories. It doesn't have to be this way. You can adopt a healthy vending machine policy and do better for the health of your employees.
Company uses yoga to boost productivity
By Teresa M. McAleavy The Record (Bergen County, NJ)
Tuesday, July 24, 2007 Increasing worker productivity sounds mighty desirable. Mighty lofty, too. But Tevis Gale says she knows her services help do the job, especially as the "24/7-ization of the workplace" edges ever closer to stressing out the American workforce. The former AOL employee and current work-life satisfaction guru brings yoga and other on-site stress-busters to workplaces throughout the metropolitan area and beyond. "We create employees who thrive," says Gale, owner of Balance Integration Corp. in New York City. "All our programming is intended to unleash employee productivity, and happiness, at the risk of sounding corny." With less than 27 percent of U.S. employees in a recent Gallup poll viewing themselves as "truly engaged" at work, Gale says a "national crisis'' is looming. "If we can help people feel better and think better, no matter where they are in the company chain, they're going to start to feel better and start contributing a lot better and then the entire company starts to work better," says Gale, a former U.S. Army reservist who holds a master's degree in business administration.
Industry booms as companies try to get workers to slim down
By Ashley M. Heher North County Times
Thursday, June 28, 2007 CHICAGO - A burgeoning industry of wellness advisers, counselors and consultants is booming as corporate America tries to increase productivity and control insurance costs by helping its employees get healthy and shed pounds. The change is fueled by well-meaning, cost-conscious executives who are looking for ways to trim bottom lines along with waist lines. "The truth is CEOs are the ones that have to address it," said Mike Huckabee, the Republican presidential candidate and the former governor of Arkansas who created a wellness program for state employees after losing more 100 lbs. And they are. About 53 percent of large employers offered health risk assessments for their staff last year _ up from 35 percent in 2004, according to a survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting. The prevalence of corporate-sponsored disease management, nurse advice lines and other health-related programs is also climbing as companies find they can no longer trim extra savings out of health insurance policies. "Employers have spent a lot of time tweaking those, and they haven't spent a lot of time getting a consumer engaged," said Tami Collin, a Mercer consultant who focuses on health and productivity management. "You'll see plan designs that are really starting to get engaged and motivated." The change is driven by cost. A study published in April by a group of Duke University researchers showed obese employees had higher rates of workers' compensation claims, more lost work days and costlier medical bills than their trim co-workers. Frustrated by health insurance costs that were growing more than 10 percent a year, Ohio State University launched a massive wellness program last year with the hope of cutting medical expenses. Organizers hope the initiative, which offers gift certificates and other prizes, will help the school save $30 million over the next five years, said program spokeswoman Kim Schuette. While wellness programs once offered counseling or education to only the sickest workers, they're now preaching prevention and more cohesive services that address a range of issues. "Educating me is one thing. Giving me something that will help me move forward is another," said Kenneth Mitchell, vice president for health and productivity at Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Unum Group, the nation's largest disability insurer. "There's a trend to become more actively engaged and more focused in helping people." That's fueling the rapid growth of the niche industry of wellness advisers who provide everything from corporate gyms to medical risk screenings at work and healthy grocery lists that can be downloaded on an iPod. At a workplace weight management conference in Chicago on Thursday, nearly 100 people - including Huckabee - debated the most effective ways to promote healthy living for employees, while helping them maintain their new lifestyle.
WORKPLACE WELLNESS: Keeping employees healthy: Companies offer exercise and nutrition programs for workers, but insurers have been slow to reward them with reduced premiums
By Victoria Colliver San Francisco Chronicle
June 15, 2007 Three years ago, Camico Mutual Insurance Co. tried to get a break on its medical insurance for offering on-site Pilates classes, fresh fruit and other good-health incentives to its 100 employees. But its insurers told the Redwood City firm they needed more evidence that such wellness programs actually reduce demand for medical services before they would trim premiums. Now Camico is finally getting insurers to pay attention. Blue Cross of California, one of its insurers, recently agreed to let the firm offer a health savings account with more generous benefits and about 10 percent lower premiums than it typically sells to a company of Camico's size. Now Camico hopes to persuade its other insurers to offer discounted premiums for its more traditional medical plans. Camico is one of a growing number of companies that offer formal wellness programs to promote a healthier workforce -- everything from on-site fitness centers to subsidized weight-loss and smoking-cessation programs. But insurers have been slow to reward such programs by cutting premiums for companies that offer them. Health insurers generally don't offer discounts to companies like Camico that create their own wellness programs. Insurers tend to recognize only wellness programs that they sponsor. Many employers that offer wellness programs -- especially smaller firms -- are frustrated that they can't get lower health insurance rates. "If you are helping to prevent chronic disease and keeping people more physically active and staying healthier, there should be a financial incentive to do that," said Chris Mittelstaedt, chief executive of the FruitGuys, a San Francisco business that delivers fruit to businesses and their employees, and a member of the California Taskforce on Youth and Workplace Wellness. Wellness programs are a key component of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to overhaul health care. The governor views them as a method to reduce overall health spending. Several studies have shown that companies save about $3 in reduced medical claims and absenteeism for every $1 spent on health and wellness programs. "People don't call in sick as much, and we do have low turnover," said Stephen Dixon, Camico's vice president of human resources and administrative services. Workers can also benefit, considering that many are spending more of their own money on health care, thanks to insurance plans with higher deductibles. "If they are buying into this healthier lifestyle, it not only saves the company money but it can save the employee money with respect to their health premiums," Dixon said. | 
