Lifestyle Disease & Cardiovascular Disease Measures in Health Management — Launching a Measurement Event to Visualize Salt Intake via Urine Na/K Testing and Enable Effectiveness Measurement —

Smile meal Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Mayumi Atsumi) has started providing a measurement event utilizing urine biomarkers as part of lifestyle disease and cardiovascular disease measures in corporate health management.

This service is characterized by its ability not only to "visualize" employees' salt intake but also to enable "effectiveness measurement," capturing the changes in numerical values after implementing initiatives.

■ About the Dietary Challenges of Modern People In the Japanese diet, high salt intake remains a significant issue. Excessive salt intake is considered a factor that increases the risk of: - Hypertension - Arteriosclerosis - Cardiovascular diseases and is one of the important themes in lifestyle disease prevention.

On the other hand, it is difficult to lead to improvement behaviors for reasons such as: - Inability to accurately grasp one's own intake amount - Having become accustomed to the taste

■ Challenges in Health Initiatives: "Implemented, but nothing changed" In corporate health management initiatives, efforts such as: - Conducting seminars - Hosting health events are advancing.

However, a common issue is: "We implemented the initiative, but we don't know how much it improved things."

Particularly since dietary habits are built up day by day, there are challenges such as: - Effects are hard to see - Difficult to sustain

■ "Visualization of Dietary Habits" through Urine Biomarkers In this measurement, the excretion amount of sodium (Na) and potassium (K) in urine, as well as the Na/K ratio, are used as indicators to evaluate the tendency of daily salt intake.

Methods such as 24-hour urine collection enable the estimation of salt intake and the understanding of the Na/K ratio, allowing for an objective assessment of individual dietary habits.

This makes it possible to grasp the following as numerical values: - Trends in salt intake - Vegetable consumption status

■ Designed to Enable Effectiveness Measurement The greatest feature of this service is that it does not end with just a measurement. After grasping the current situation through the initial measurement, the following are implemented: - Nutrition seminars - Dietary improvement initiatives - Behavioral change support By conducting a re-measurement afterward, it is possible to quantitatively evaluate "how much improvement has been made."

By comparing the "before/after visualization": - Changes in the Na/K ratio - Improvement in salt intake trends the effectiveness of the initiatives can be clearly demonstrated.

Seeing the changes as numerical values helps individuals: - Understand their own condition - Feel the results of the improvement As a result, it leads to continuous behavioral change.

■ Value in Health Management This measurement not only contributes to: - Prevention of lifestyle diseases - Reduction of cardiovascular disease risks - Countermeasures against hypertension - Improvement of presenteeism

But it is also an initiative that enhances the quality of health management in terms of being able to "visualize the outcomes of the initiatives."

■ The Value Smile meal Provides: Consistent Support from Analysis to Implementation At Smile meal, a specialized team centered around registered dietitians combines: - Food condition checks (analysis of employee dietary questionnaires) - Measurement events (urine biomarkers, body composition monitors, estimated vegetable intake measuring devices, etc.) - Dietary and nutrition seminars - Cooking seminars and cooking classes

To design and provide optimal food initiatives tailored to the challenges of each company.

In particular, a distinguishing feature is the ability to visualize the trends of employees' dietary habits as a report (feedback sheet) through food-specific questionnaires and analysis.

■ Implementation Image STEP 1: Food condition check (current situation analysis) STEP 2: Urine biomarker measurement (initial) STEP 3: Implementation of issue-specific seminars and initiatives STEP 4: Practical support through cooking seminars STEP 5: Re-measurement and effectiveness verification

■ Health Initiatives Move from "Implementation" to "Outcomes" In future health management, what is required is not: - What was done but rather: - How much has changed

Urine Na/K measurement is one effective means to quantitatively capture that change.

Companies considering the introduction of health initiatives that include visualizing employees' dietary habits and measuring effectiveness are encouraged to consult with us. We provide consistent support from current situation analysis to initiative design, execution, and verification.

■ About Smile meal Co., Ltd. Smile meal Co., Ltd. is a professional food team centered around registered dietitians, with the mission of "creating deliciousness, smiles, and health through food to contribute to society."

With recipe development, product development, and catering businesses centered around health as our core, we provide a consistent range of services including food photography and video production.

In addition, we deploy health management support services from the perspective of food, implementing highly effective initiatives that contribute to improving employee well-being and productivity through health management consulting, dietary/nutrition seminars, health measurement events, nutritional consultation sessions, and cooking classes.