A Minnesota cardiologist's healthy snack company is part of a White House challenge to end hunger and build healthy communities, starting with local first responders.

Eden Prairie-based Step One Foods — which Dr. Elizabeth Klodas founded in 2013 after several years of testing food that could help people lower their cholesterol — joined the Biden administration's endeavor at the end of last month. President Joe Biden launched the challenge a year ago but recently made $1.7 billion in new commitments to several companies and organizations that will help pursue the goal of ending hunger and reducing diet-related diseases in the U.S. by 2030.

Klodas made a proposal for the White House program in late spring and learned a few weeks ago that it was selected. Step One's efforts will focus on offering discounted food items to police officers and firefighters, whose jobs create elevated risks for cardiac health.

"Chronic exposure to stress is a big part of it," Max Lipset, director of Step One partner Health Quotient, said of first responders' propensity toward cardiovascular disease. "The risk is very high."

Lipset said he is increasingly seeing Minnesota first responders in their 30s dying of heart attacks. Firefighting in particular calls for strenuous muscle work amid heat stress and dehydration in a hazardous environment. All of those conditions can affect cardiovascular health.

"The number one reason why firefighters die, it's heart attacks," Klodas said. "Your work environment is a social determinant of health."

In 2023, the First Responder Health and Safety Laboratory at Skidmore College in New York found "approximately half of all annual on-duty firefighter deaths are related to [cardiovascular disease]. ... Sudden cardiac events are a leading cause of acute duty-related deaths, accounting for nearly 50% of such deaths." A look at occupational medical evaluations found 69% of firefighters had blood pressure indicative of hypertension, and 33% had elevated cholesterol.

The Skidmore College report determined its data highlighted "the need for comprehensive wellness and fitness programs focused on [cardiovascular disease] prevention as a complement to occupational medical exams."

Diet changes are not the only solution. The Skidmore study also suggests regular exercise, maintaining a healthy body weight, avoiding tobacco and developing better sleep patterns.

Still, diet matters. A 2019 study funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute determined poor diets were leading to $50 billion per year in U.S. health care costs. The study also found that unhealthy diets were responsible for up to 45% of all cardiometabolic deaths.

That's where Step One Foods comes in with its snack bars, oatmeal, pancake mix, smoothie mix and Anytime Sprinkle, a topping or additive to other foods.

Klodas formulated the products — chock-full of omega-3s, plant sterols, fiber and antioxidants — to lower cholesterol. The Dark Chocolate Crunch Bar, for example, contains bittersweet chocolate, almonds, whole pinto bean flour, chia seeds, oat bran, walnuts, dried cranberries, raisins, flaxseeds, plant sterols and Saskatoon berries.

According to the Mayo Clinic, "soluble fiber can reduce the absorption of cholesterol into your bloodstream" and omega-3 fatty acids "may help lower your blood pressure and risk of developing blood clots."

Step One Foods, a privately held company with 30 employees, doesn't disclose revenue. Its business beyond the White House partnership is all e-commerce with no physical retail presence.

"We ship a million servings of food a month," Klodas said. She works alongside co-founder and CEO Bill Alldredge, who has a background in finance and business development.

In 2021, the company began to work with St. Louis Park's Health Quotient to bring healthy options to companies emphasizing health and wellness services to their employees. Health Quotient, which Twin Cities Orthopedics owns, is also helping Step One bring its products to firehouses and police stations in Minnesota.

Step One and Health Quotient are monitoring first responders via baseline blood pressure measurements; resting heart rate and cholesterol levels; adding Step One Foods to their diets; and education on beneficial lifestyle changes, Lipset said.

"What you can see is a really rapid improvement in their risk factors," he said.