Improving the Dietary Intake of Healthcare Workers Through Workplace Dietary Interventions: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

The workplace has been identified as a potential location for dietary intervention delivery due to the amount of time spent and the meals eaten in this setting. It is recommended that interventions are tailored to specific occupational groups, and to date, there is limited synthesis of the evidence relating to healthcare workers. This review characterises and evaluates the effectiveness of dietary interventions in healthcare workers to aid the design and implementation of interventions. The MEDLINE database was searched to September 2020. The reference list of an umbrella review was hand searched for additional titles against inclusion criteria. The search included i) population, ii) intervention and iii) work environment. Studies were assessed for risk of bias. Harvest plots and Forest plots were created to display study quality, direction and size of effect of selected primary (energy, fruit and vegetable and fat intake) and secondary outcomes (weight, body mass index, blood pressure and serum cholesterol levels). Thirty-nine articles assessing thirty-four interventions were eligible for inclusion. Intervention types most commonly used were environmental, educational, educational plus behavioural, and behavioural. Due to the heterogeneity in study design and intervention type, results were largely inconclusive. For dietary outcomes, interventions produced small-moderate favorable changes in fruit, vegetable and fat intake. Decreased fat intake was mainly observed in environmental interventions and increases in fruit and vegetable intake were observed when an educational or/and behavioral component was present. Interventions producing weight loss were mostly non-randomised trials involving education and physical activity. Total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol decreased in interventions involving physical activity. Meta-analyses revealed significant decreases in energy intake, weight, blood pressure, total cholesterol, and LDL cholesterol in non-randomised trials where data were available. Much more research is needed into strategies to promote diet quality improvement in healthcare workers. Statement of significance: It is recommended that workplace dietary interventions are tailored to specific occupational groups. To our knowledge, this is the first review to examine the effects of dietary workplace interventions in healthcare professionals. Small-moderate favourable changes in fruit and vegetable intake can be achieved when an educational or/and behavioural component is included in the intervention. For weight loss, interventions involving nutrition education and physical activity in addition to a dietary component show benefit. In the studies reviewed, a high level of heterogeneity was evident and insufficient information reported to ascertain potential bias.