A Hard Turn: Steering Away From Bad Diets

Ok by now we know I love me some NY Times and yesterday they had a great article on the current health of truck drivers and what some companies are doing to integrate prevention (all be it secondary prevention).

"Eighty-six percent of the estimated 3.2 million truck drivers in the United States are overweight or obese, according to a 2007 study in The Journal of the American Dietetic Association."

For the quick and dirty, big trucking companies are looking at ways that they can integrate primary and secondary prevention into their employee's lives.  Some are starting up Biggest Loser competitions and offering discounted gym and weigh loss program memberships while others are integrating nurses wellness coaches.

One of the most staggering statistics I read in the article:

"In 2010, heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers accounted for 13 percent of all fatal occupational injuries, according to preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A 2007 report from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration found that 87 percent of crashes involving truckers stemmed to some degree from driver error. Twelve percent of these cases were because the driver was asleep, had a heart attack, was in diabetic shock or had some other health problem."

Life on the road is a hard one, especially when you are driving 11 hours a day with most of your food coming from rest stops and fast food "restaurants".  It just goes to show how big of an impact environment can have on someone's lifestyle choices.  I would love to see a follow up article in a few months/years to see how the rates of morbidity and mortality change with these new measures.