Eating habits among employees of a state-owned bank: food consumption profile

In order to investigate the health conditions of current employees in a government-owned bank in the State of Rio de Janeiro, we performed a cross-sectional study in two departments where systematic sampling was applied. Among the health conditions, we focused on the employees' eating habit profile using a questionnaire on frequency of food group consumption analyzed through a summary measure (eating score). Although the majority of the study population display good eating habits, the results confirmed a major difference between genders. Some 60% of men had scores higher than the population mean (51.2), as compared to only 45% of women. In addition, we observed that men, and particularly younger men, consumed more foodstuffs that were rich in saturated fat, salt, and sugar as compared to women. The findings indicate that quality of one's diet along with changes in other habits and behaviors (like smoking and sedentary life style) should be part of programs to promote health in the workplace, with a view towards controlling cardiovascular and other diseases.