Issue link: https://tmcpulse.uberflip.com/i/597435
t m c » p u l s e | n o v e m b e r 2 0 1 5 27 availability, variety, familiarity and calorie density. "Our goal for this project is to implement these evidence-based pro- grams and see if they are successful in reducing obesity," Sharma said. "Health care work is considered high stress, and health care workers work long hours. I think the diets will improve their qual- ity of life both at home and at work and help them manage their weight." The second intervention element is the use of a traffic light labeling system in the vending machines across the Texas Medical Center. Traffic light labeling is showing food as green for the healthiest choices, yellow to enjoy in moderation and red to slow down. Thirty-three of the 56 member insti- tutions have opted to implement this color-coding system. Traffic light labeling was proven to be successful at the University of Virginia. When Garson was dean of the University of Virginia School of Medicine, he implemented the program and focused on "front of label" packag- ing, which expresses calorie content only through the green, yellow and red system. "Front of label packaging is simple and easy for everyone to understand," Garson said. "When I was at Virginia, we had a number of vending machines with this system for a year and at the end of the year, sales on the green went up 15 percent, yellow went up 30 percent, sales on the red went down five percent and total sales went up 6½ percent. It is marvelous because we gave people healthy choices and they went to the vending machines more frequently." The third intervention is the imple- mentation of the traffic light labeling system in cafeterias. Institutions can individually choose what constitutes a green, yellow or red rating. The program officially begins in January 2016, but the Landmark Café at the Nabisco campus and the Trevisio Restaurant in the John P. McGovern Commons have been testing out the traffic light labeling since June. In Trevisio, every item is color-coded— red for items above 550 calories, yellow for those above 450, and green for those under 450. Jeremy Bauer, food service director at the Texas Medical Center, believes the program has been a success so far. "Since we have implemented the traffic light system in the Landmark Café, we have noticed a substantial change in sales," Bauer said. "Our total sales are up 21 percent. Sales of red items are down by 13 percent and we have seen an eight percent increase in yellow sales, and five percent increase in green." Over the course of the next two years, Sharma and her team will be tracking the progress made by each institution and recording their findings. They will then address the issue of which programs are likely to be most effective in helping people to lose weight. If overweight and obesity rates drop by 20 percent by 2020, the Texas Medical Center will be the largest major group of institutions in the world to significantly reduce overweight and obesity rates in their workforce. "My vision for TMC O2 is to make obesity prevention a priority in the workplace, and to build a culture of health within TMC as a whole," Sharma said. "I want to see if we can collectively work towards a goal and achieve it. THE TMC O2 CHALLENGE AIMS TO REDUCE THE OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY RATES IN THE TEXAS MEDICAL CENTER BY 20 PERCENT BY THE YEAR 2020.