Apples for Health- CDC: Web site to help people get lean

CDC: Web site to help people get lean

ATLANTA, June 27 (UPI) -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta have a Web Site LEANWorks!, designed to help businesses address obesity, officials said.

"CDC LEANWorks! -- LEAN stands for Leading Employees to Activity and Nutrition -- was developed in direct response to organizations asking CDC for help in addressing the obesity epidemic," Dr. William Dietz, director of CDC's division of nutrition, physical activity and obesity, said in a statement. "Specifically they wanted to know what interventions were effective in helping employees maintain a healthy weight."

The Web site was developed particularly for small and mid-size companies, which typically have more limited resources to devote to obesity prevention efforts. However, the tools and resources available on CDC LEANWorks! can benefit companies of any size, CDC officials said.

The Web site can help employers calculate the cost of obesity for their organizations and develop tailored approaches to help control these costs through interventions such as fitness classes, lunchtime health education sessions and weight management programs.

The Web site -- at www.cdc.gov/leanworks -- can also provide information and resources to help employers plan, build, promote and assess interventions to combat obesity. Employers can estimate return on investment -- a measure of the cost of an intervention compared to the expected financial return of the intervention.