Quak Evert-Jan, Ebata Ayako, Barnett Inka
Institute of Development Studies, Brighton, United Kingdom.
Front Public Health. 2025 Jun 25;13:1592601. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1592601. eCollection 2025.
Undernutrition and malnutrition remain persistent challenges in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), especially among workers in labour-intensive sectors. Workplace nutrition programmes (WNPs) have shown promising health benefits, but evidence on their business impact remains scarce-particularly in LMIC contexts. This review examines whether WNPs generate measurable business outcomes that could incentivise employer investment. Using a structured literature review (SLR) approach, we systematically analysed 24 relevant studies-10 systematic reviews and 14 empirical papers. Search terms targeted nutrition-related workplace interventions and business outcomes, including productivity, absenteeism, and return on investment. Searches were conducted across Scopus, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, and grey literature sources. Studies were included if they assessed business-related outcomes of health or wellness interventions with nutrition components. Only four studies were based in LMICs; the remaining 20 were from high-income countries (HICs), underscoring a major evidence gap. Despite this, two main impact pathways emerged: (1) healthier diets improve workers' concentration and energy, reducing absenteeism and saving costs; and (2) improved nutrition enhances motivation, productivity, and work quality, which may increase sales and revenue. The first pathway is more relevant to skilled workers who are harder to replace, unlike the easily replaceable labour force common in many LMIC industries. In the second pathway, while improved nutrition may boost productivity, structural barriers-such as limited bargaining power in global supply chains-can prevent these gains from leading to better pay for workers. This review outlines key pathways through which improved worker nutrition may benefit businesses and identifies critical gaps in the evidence. It also proposes outcome indicators relevant to private sector stakeholders in LMICs, helping to guide future empirical research.
在低收入和中等收入国家（LMICs），营养不良和营养不足仍然是长期存在的挑战，尤其是在劳动密集型行业的工人中。职场营养计划（WNPs）已显示出良好的健康效益，但关于其商业影响的证据仍然很少，特别是在低收入和中等收入国家的背景下。本综述探讨职场营养计划是否能产生可衡量的商业成果，从而激励雇主投资。我们采用结构化文献综述（SLR）方法，系统分析了24项相关研究，其中包括10篇系统综述和14篇实证论文。搜索词针对与营养相关的职场干预措施和商业成果，包括生产力、旷工率和投资回报率。搜索范围涵盖Scopus、ScienceDirect、谷歌学术和灰色文献来源。如果研究评估了含有营养成分的健康或 wellness 干预措施的商业相关成果，则纳入研究。只有四项研究来自低收入和中等收入国家；其余20项来自高收入国家（HICs），这凸显了一个主要的证据差距。尽管如此，还是出现了两条主要的影响途径：（1）更健康的饮食可提高工人的注意力和精力，减少旷工率并节省成本；（2）营养改善可增强动力、提高生产力和工作质量，这可能会增加销售额和收入。与许多低收入和中等收入国家行业中常见的易于替代的劳动力不同，第一条途径与更难替代的技术工人更为相关。在第二条途径中，虽然营养改善可能提高生产力，但诸如全球供应链中议价能力有限等结构性障碍可能会阻止这些收益转化为工人更高的薪酬。本综述概述了改善工人营养可能使企业受益的关键途径，并确定了证据中的关键差距。它还提出了与低收入和中等收入国家私营部门利益相关者相关的成果指标，有助于指导未来的实证研究。
