Association Between Fast Food Consumption and Obesity and High Blood Pressure Among Office Workers

Abstract

Fast food consumption among office workers is a common phenomenon. Frequent consumption of fast food is linked to cardiovascular risk factors. The pervasiveness of these risk factors has debilitated the office workers' health and contributed to low performance and absenteeism. However, there remains a significant gap in the current literature regarding the health impacts of frequent fast food consumption behavior of office workers. Consuming large portions of fast food has been associated with obesity. The purpose of this correlation study was to investigate the relationship between fast food consumption and obesity and hypertension among office workers. The theoretical foundations for this study are based on socio ecological model which is concerned with interactions between the individual and the different elements of the environment. Of 145 randomly selected office workers, 55 completed surveys about their food behavior and 36 of them had body mass index and blood pressure measured. Spearman rank-ordered correlations revealed significant correlations of moderate strength between fast food portion size and obesity (r_s = .37) and between frequent fast food consumption and hypertension (r_s = .40). These results constitute an important contribution to the existing literature and can be used by the health professionals and management to design workplace health intervention which focuses on the office workers and the social environment. Implications for positive social change include reducing the prevalence of obesity and hypertension.