The effectiveness of dietary workplace interventions: a systematic review of systematic reviews.

OBJECTIVE: To summarise findings of systematic reviews that distinctively report dietary intervention components and their effects on diet-, health- and economic-related outcomes in the workplace setting.

DESIGN: MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, Web of Science, Cochrane Library and Google Scholar were searched in December 2014 and the search was updated in August 2017.

RESULTS: The search identified 1137 titles, of which nineteen systematic reviews from the initial search and two systematic reviews from the updated search met the inclusion criteria (twenty-one systematic reviews, published in twenty-two papers). Most systematic reviews were of moderate quality and focused on dietary behaviour change outcomes and some health-related biomarkers. Evidence was strongest for interventions to increase fruit and vegetable intake, reduce fat intake, aid weight loss and reduce cholesterol. Few reported workplace-related and evaluation outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that workplace dietary interventions can positively influence diet and health outcomes. Suggestions for effective interventions components have been made.