Fat Chance

Organisations globally have started offering employees money to lose weight. That is the good news. The bad news is that research proves cash incentives don’t produce any significant weight loss.

Organisations globally have started offering employees money to lose weight. That is the good news. The bad news is that research proves cash incentives don’t produce any significant weight loss. “It’s probably a waste of time,” according to Kelly Brownell, director of Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. Cash incentives work very well for those trying to leave tobacco, but not for food. What seems to work is a threat of money loss. In a Cornell University study, a large number of companies were studied, and the average weight loss with cash incentives was about 500 gm over the duration of the programme. When employees risked losing money instead, the average weight loss was about 2 kg.

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Alok Singh