The British Heart Foundation has kick-started a new campaign to get office workers thinking about their health, as part of which it will be launching a sponsored chocolate detox initiative in March.
The 2017 DECHOX fundraiser was created on the back of new research that found almost half of professionals have lost track of a diet after succumbing to ‘cake culture’ in the workplace.
The research, which surveyed 2,000 adults in the UK earlier this year, reported that the education and IT sectors are the two most chocoholic industries, with 47% of workers eating chocolate at least every other day.
Workers in professional services came in a close third with nearly two fifths eating chocolate every other day in an average working week, while 36% admitted to being incapable of getting through the day without.
More than six in ten healthcare sector participants said their offices are permanently stocked with chocolate, and while nine in ten people believe it is an unwritten rule not to steal colleague’s sweets, 29% admitted to having done so.
With this year’s DECHOX campaign, the BFH is hoping that workers across all industries will get their offices involved and give up chocolate treats during March to raise money for heart disease research.
Last year, over 18,000 UK office workers took part, raising £860,000 for the Foundation’s research. The money raised by the campaign will contribute to over 1,000 ongoing research projects, led by 31 world-leading cardiology professors at six centres worldwide.
Tracy Parker, heart health dietician at the BHF, said: “It’s no secret that we’re a nation of chocoholics. While it’s fine to treat yourself now and again, this survey shows just how much our workplace ‘cake culture’ is helping feed our sugary habit, even tempting people to ditch their healthy diets.
“By challenging yourself and your colleagues to a DECHOX this March, you can help eliminate temptation while raising funds for our life-saving research. By ditching chocolate, you can kick start some healthier habits, and help fund the breakthroughs that will see us beat heart disease for good.”
There are around seven million people in the UK currently living with cardiovascular disease and, on average, 160,000 people die from heart and circulatory diseases each year.