Seattle 5 a day worksite program to increase fruit and vegetable consumption

Background. 5 a Day for Better Health is a simple message encouraging peopl e to eat more fruits and vegetables. The Seattle 5 a Day worksite investiga tors designed and evaluated an intervention, organized on stages of behavio ral change, to increase worksitewide fruit and vegetable consumption. Methods. We recruited 28 worksites with cafeterias and randomized 14 to int ervention and 14 to control. The intervention addressed both changes in the work environment and individual level behavior change. In each worksite, a n employee advisory board, with study interventionist assistance, implement ed the program. By surveying cross-sectional samples of 125 employees per w orksite, we compared worksite mean fruit and vegetable consumption at 2-yea r follow-up with that at baseline. Unobtrusive site-level indicators includ ing plate observation and cafeteria checklist were also used. Results. The difference at 2 years was 0.5 for the intervention worksites a nd 0.2 for the control worksites, with an intervention effect of 0.3 daily serving (P < 0.05). Other measures of fruit and vegetable consumption, incl uding unobtrusive indicators, supported the effectiveness of the interventi on. Conclusions. This simple 5 a Day intervention is feasible and acceptable fo r use in worksites with cafeterias. There was a significant differential in crease in fruit and vegetable consumption in the intervention worksites. Th is kind of worksite intervention can achieve important health benefits on a population basis, because of its potential to reach large numbers of peopl e. (C) 2001 American Health Foundation and Academic Press.