Food portion size educational programme in a workplace setting in Puducherry – Is it effective?

BACKGROUND: Consuming larger portion sizes, i.e., in excess of a typically recommended serving size, has been attributed to the obesity epidemic. The workplace acts as an efficient target for health promotion activities. AIMS: To assess the effectiveness of a food portion size educational programme in increasing knowledge among the employees of a software company in Puducherry. METHODOLOGY: An interventional study was conducted with a pre-post design. A single group of software company employees (N = 120), age ≥30 years selected by simple random sampling was included in the study. The intervention consisted of a health education programme on the portion sizes of common food items including fruits and vegetables. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect information on personal and sociodemographic details. Self-regulation on eating was assessed using the Self-Regulation of Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (SREBQ). RESULTS: The mean age of the study participants was 27 ± 5 years. Most of the participants were males, i.e., 72 (60%). Of the total, 55 (47.8%) participants were obese and 18 (15.7%) were overweight. The median number of meals and snacks consumed by the participants was 3 (1–3) and 1 (1–2), respectively. The median (interquartile range [IQR]) knowledge scores of the food portion size significantly increased from 9 (0–16) to 14 (5–19) (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This study has demonstrated that an educational intervention in the workplace setting is feasible and effective in increasing the knowledge of food portion size over a short term.