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Bosses should help fight staff obesity

Nov 18 2008

Employers should help staff battle obesity with healthy eating options, as it will lead to a more productive workforce.

Dr Colin Waine, former chairman of the National Obesity Forum, says businesses which have a canteen or eating facilities should be offering low-fat food to aid their employees.

The expert adds that some employers can go further to reduce obesity and improve their company.

'By providing exercise facilities on site to increase levels of activity, the two things together would actually lead to a healthier work force which would have fewer absences,' he states.

Waine describes it as a 'win-win situation' as productivity levels will increase and so benefit the company.

Research from the British Heart Foundation predicts a quarter of all UK workers will not be able to fit into a conventional-sized office chair by 2010 due to increasing obesity.

The National Obesity Forum was set up in 2000 to increase awareness of the health implications of obesity.

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