Too Much Cake at Work?

A popular practice at work is the sharing and consumption of sugary snacks, ranging from cakes to chocolates and biscuits. Sugar becomes a particularly prolific addition to offices during the holiday season, some may argue, where treats are plentiful and stomachs are full. Dentists and other health experts, however, have warned that snacking on sugary sweets in the office is contributing to unhealthy diets and oral health in the UK.

In addition to recent post-Christmas articles warning office workers to cut down on sugary snacks at work, studies by health experts point out that the regular consumption of sugar has a detrimental effect on productivity and energy levels. Research has also linked the consumption of high-sugar foods to a long-term imbalance in dopamine levels, pre-diabetes as well as other health issues and ailments.

Given these health implications, should it be the responsibility of employers to monitor or restrict workplace sugar consumption? How can we change the work culture surrounding the sharing of sugary snacks? Why is it important to consider the health implications of practices that take place at work?

Applicants for Medicine and Biomedicine may want to consider the ways in which social habits in the workplace effect our health and whether the medical community can have an impact on generating public medical knowledge to combat them. Candidates interested in Biological Sciences and Natural Sciences (B) may want to think about the ways in which sugar effect the body in the long and short term, as well as insulin production in the pancreas.