Author Interviews, CDC, Nutrition, Occupational Health / 30.01.2019
Free Food at Work Often Not of the Healthy Variety
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
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Dr. Stephen Onufrak[/caption]
Stephen Onufrak, PhD
Epidemiologist, Obesity Prevention and Control Branch
Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, GA
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: With more than 150 million working adults in the United States, workplaces represent a far reaching setting for chronic disease prevention and health promotion. While research suggests that workplace wellness efforts can be effective at changing health behaviors, little is known about the foods that people acquire at work.
In this study, we used data from the US Department of Agriculture Food Acquisition and Purchasing Survey (FoodAPS) to investigate workplace food acquisitions among employed adults during a 7 day study period. The foods we examined included those purchased in places like cafeterias and vending machines as well as those acquired for free at meetings, social events, common areas, or shared by coworkers. They did not include foods brought from home by someone to eat at work themselves or food acquired by the employee at offsite restaurants.
Dr. Stephen Onufrak[/caption]
Stephen Onufrak, PhD
Epidemiologist, Obesity Prevention and Control Branch
Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, GA
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: With more than 150 million working adults in the United States, workplaces represent a far reaching setting for chronic disease prevention and health promotion. While research suggests that workplace wellness efforts can be effective at changing health behaviors, little is known about the foods that people acquire at work.
In this study, we used data from the US Department of Agriculture Food Acquisition and Purchasing Survey (FoodAPS) to investigate workplace food acquisitions among employed adults during a 7 day study period. The foods we examined included those purchased in places like cafeterias and vending machines as well as those acquired for free at meetings, social events, common areas, or shared by coworkers. They did not include foods brought from home by someone to eat at work themselves or food acquired by the employee at offsite restaurants. 
Dr. Mangione[/caption]
Dr. Carol Mangione M.D., M.S.P.H., F.A.C.P
Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center
Division Chief of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research
Professor of Medicine.
Barbara A. Levey, MD, and Gerald S. Levey, MD
Endowed chair in medicine David Geffen School of Medicine
University of California
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Unhealthy alcohol use is relatively common and is increasing among U.S. adults. Alcohol use is the third leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. and contributes to more than 88,000 deaths per year. In pregnancy, it also leads to birth defects and developmental problems in children. The Task Force found that screening tests and brief counseling interventions can help detect and reduce unhealthy alcohol use among adults, and in turn help prevent negative consequences related to alcohol use. For adolescents ages 12 to 17, clinicians should use their best judgment when deciding whether or not to screen and refer their patients to counseling, until we have better studies available.
Kathryn M. Edwards, M.D.
Sarah H. Sell and Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair in Pediatrics
Professor of Pediatrics
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Dr. Edwards discusses the statement from the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) regarding the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s new data on child vaccine rates across the United States.
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: To monitor the uptake of vaccines the CDC conducts a National Immunization Survey each year. This survey is conducted by random-digit dialing (cell phones or landlines) of parents and guardians of children 19-35 months of age. The interviewers ask the families who provides the vaccines for their children and if these providers can be contacted to inquire about the immunizations received. The overall response rate to the telephone survey was 26% and immunization records were provided on 54% of the children where permission was granted. Overall 15, 333 children had their immunization records reviewed.
When comparing immunization rates for 2017 and 2016, the last two years of the study, several new findings were discovered.
First the overall coverage rate for 3 doses of polio vaccine, one dose of MMR, 3 doses of Hepatitis b, and 1 dose of chickenpox vaccine was 90%, a high rate of coverage. Children were less likely to be up to date on the hepatitis A vaccine (70%) and rotavirus vaccine (73%). Coverage was lower for children living in rural areas when compared with urban areas and children living in rural areas had higher percentages of no vaccine receipt at all (1.9%) compared with those living in urban areas (1%).
There were more uninsured children in 2017 at 2.8% and these children had lower immunization rates. In fact 7.1% of the children with no insurance were totally unimmunized when compared with 0.8% unimmunized in those with private insurance. Vaccine coverage varies by state and by vaccine.
