Losing weight and keeping it off is challenging under any circumstances, but combine that with a sedentary job, vending machine food, and office treats and weight loss can seem like an impossible task.

If workplaces could instead help people lose weight, businesses could save a lot of money – from less illness and lower healthcare costs. And if more Americans were at a healthy weight, as many as 116,000 cases of cancer could be prevented every year.

Now, a new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests how workplaces can help. This preliminary randomized control trial tested whether educating employees about healthy eating, combined with a supportive workplace environment, could help overweight and obese employees lose weight.

For the intervention group, 84 participants at two work sites completed a six month weight loss program and of those, 40 continued with six months more for maintenance. These employees lost on average, 17.5 pounds during the six-month intervention. During the following six-months, they kept the weight off. They also showed improvements in blood pressure, blood cholesterol and glucose levels. Continue reading →