Honestmed
Monday, July 10, 2006
No More "Fast Food"
Fast food "has no place" in hospitals and medical centers, Andrew Weil, director of the integrative medicine program at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, writes in a New York Times opinion piece. According to Weil, a 2002 study conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan found that four of 10 hospitals had on-site fast food restaurants. "Today, I'm afraid, that number can only have gone up," he adds. Weil writes that, although the "increasing availability and popularity of fast food is a major cause of obesity and declining health," efforts to remove fast food from hospitals lead to the "same tangle of inertia and apathy that has kept hospitals from serving patients appetizing and wholesome food -- and has instead allowed large corporations to put profit ahead of quality." He adds, "We must have nutritionally literate doctors," as well as the same "kind of grassroots activism that has removed sugary sodas and candy from vending machines in many schools," to remove fast food from hospitals (Weil, New York Times, 7/6).
"Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved. 
Fast Food 'Has No Place' In Hospitals, Opinion Piece States
10 Jul 2006Fast food "has no place" in hospitals and medical centers, Andrew Weil, director of the integrative medicine program at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, writes in a New York Times opinion piece. According to Weil, a 2002 study conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan found that four of 10 hospitals had on-site fast food restaurants. "Today, I'm afraid, that number can only have gone up," he adds. Weil writes that, although the "increasing availability and popularity of fast food is a major cause of obesity and declining health," efforts to remove fast food from hospitals lead to the "same tangle of inertia and apathy that has kept hospitals from serving patients appetizing and wholesome food -- and has instead allowed large corporations to put profit ahead of quality." He adds, "We must have nutritionally literate doctors," as well as the same "kind of grassroots activism that has removed sugary sodas and candy from vending machines in many schools," to remove fast food from hospitals (Weil, New York Times, 7/6).
"Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=46725
Visit HonestMED.com
¶ 2:02 PM 0 comments
