Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Feed your employees well & prevent Diabetes!


National Diabetes Day – 14 November
Feed your employees well to prevent chronic illness such as diabetes

A total of 7.6 % of the employees in a study comprising a sample of more than 100 000 employees in 60 South African companies took time off because of chronic illnesses that are most often associated with diet. These included diabetes, heart disease, cancer and hypertension.

Johnny Johnson, Chief Executive of absenteeism specialists CAM Solutions says that these chronic illnesses cost the economy R1. 4 billion in the last year in the form of lost productivity.

This amount could be trebled when taking into account the indirect costs of an absent employee such as replacement labour, training and lost time.

“It makes financial sense for employers to guide their employees to follow a healthy diet, to either help prevent or control these chronic illnesses.

“If we find that a company has a high rate of absenteeism due to chronic illness we refer them to wellness management experts who guide employee on their diet at home, as well as revising food on offer in the company canteen. This helps control and prevent illness and therefore their ability to be productive,” he says.

Some companies, such as Continental Tyre in Port Elizabeth offer their entire staff nutrition supplement in the form of fortified cereal on a continuous monthly basis. This vitamin-packed maize meal is packaged in such as way that employees can take it home and share it with their immediate families.

“We have seen a definite increase in general health of our employees since starting this programme,” says Zuki Bhaku, employee relations manager at Continental Tyre.

Nutritional therapist Heidi Du Preez adds, “Cancer, heart disease, arthritis, diabetes, chronic fatigue syndrome and even allergies are often the result of a simple nutritional deficiency which can be corrected or controlled with healthy eating. Our diet has the distinction of being the only major determinant of health that's completely under our control.”

Du Preez says that a natural whole food diet should comprise fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, whole grains, legumes and filtered water. Lean organic meat, free range eggs and limited dairy should also be included.

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