A Participatory Integrated Health Promotion and Protection Worksite Intervention: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.

Our objective was to describe and evaluate an innovative approach to combining worksite wellness and ergonomics, with an emphasis on retention and absenteeism during the intervention. The study enrolled 280 employee participants in a 3-year cluster randomized, controlled trial conducted at The University of Iowa, 5 local businesses, and 1 regional business. Our results showed a 90% retention rate with lower estimated absenteeism (although not statistically significant) in the intervention group compared with the control group.

Raising Medical Students' Awareness of Nutrition and Fitness in Disease Prevention: Nutrition and Fitness Program at the University of Iowa.

At the University of Iowa we devised a learning experience, called the Nutrition and Fitness Program, for third-year medical students. The program was designed to raise awareness of the role of nutrition and exercise in the prevention and treatment of disease. Students spent one afternoon learning about their personal health risk factors, such as body mass index, percent body fat, other anthropometric measures such as waist, hip and mid-arm circumference, blood lipids, bone-mass density, dietary analysis, and fitness assessment.

Adolescents eating diets rich in either lean beef or lean poultry and fish reduced fat and saturated fat intake and those eating beef maintained serum ferritin status.

Reducing red meat intake to lower serum cholesterol may also lower iron and zinc intake. Eighty-six seventh and eighth graders who enrolled in a study comparing serum ferritin, zinc, and cholesterol levels were randomized to a low-fat eating pattern emphasizing either lean beef or lean poultry and fish. Serum data and three 24-hour recalls were collected at baseline and 3 months.