Free Work Snacks Are Costing You A Lot Of Empty Calories

The next time you reach for that free bag of chips at the office, keep in mind that there is a price tag attached to those snacks. According to new research from the CDC presented at a conference in Boston this week, people consume almost 1,300 (mostly empty) calories at work.

The finding reveal that nearly a quarter of working adults get free food and drinks at work during the week and the free food accounted for 70 percent of calories consumed at the office. The research found that the free food is generally not very good for you and tends to contain high amounts of sodium and refined grains.

Researchers used data from the USDA's food acquisition and purchasing survey, looking at how some 5,000 employed adults acquired food at work. The kinds of food people are eating for free? Pizza, cookies, brownies, cakes and candy, the researchers say.

The researchers suggest that employers should consider offering healthier snacks and freebies to their workers.

"Since we found that a lot of the foods obtained by employees were free, employers may also want to consider healthy meeting policies to encourage healthy food options at meetings and social events," Stephen Onufrak, an epidemiologist at the CDC, said in a news release.

Another step employers can take to make sure workers eat better is ensuring food in cafeterias and vending machines are healthy and also encourage healthy food options at meeting and events, the researchers say.

The research has not been published in a scientific journal yet and the researchers cautioned that the findings should be considered preliminary until a peer-reviewed publication is available.

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