Worst Hospital Foods Environments: High-Fat Cafeteria Meals and Fast Food
Country-fried steaks, pork chops, and meatball sandwiches. The hospitals named in PCRM’s Five Worst Hospital Food Environments report serve unhealthful foods like these on cafeteria and patient menus and host fast-food restaurants.
The menu choices offered to patients at Children’s Memorial Hospital Complex in Chicago include unhealthy, high-fat fare like chicken wings, quesadillas with bacon, and grilled hot dogs. The Medical University of South Carolina University Hospital Complex in Charleston, S.C., hosts a whopping five fast-food outlets. The three other hospitals named in PCRM’s report also host fast-food restaurants and cafeterias with menus dominated by high-fat, meat-heavy items.
“Hospital food shouldn’t make us sick,” says PCRM nutrition education director Susan Levin, M.S., R.D. “Research shows that high-fat, meaty diets are linked to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers. It’s time for hospitals to take a hard look at their food environments and offer healthier options.”
For the report, PCRM researchers surveyed food served at 110 hospitals in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
The five worst hospital food environments are:
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| Institution |
Nutrition Shocker |
| St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital/Texas Heart Institute/Texas Children’s Hospital Complex (Houston, Texas) |
4 fast-food outlets and fried-chicken bar in the cafeteria |
| Medical University of South Carolina University Hospital Complex (Charleston, S.C.) |
5 fast-food outlets and a cafeteria serving country-fried steak and other high-fat fare |
| Naval Medical Center San Diego Hospital Facility Complex (San Diego, Calif.) |
3 fast-food outlets; patients order from menu featuring pork chops, meatball sandwiches, and other high-cholesterol fare |
| Duke University Hospital Complex (Durham, N.C.) |
3 fast-food outlets; patients order from cafeteria menu featuring spicy pork loin and other high-fat items |
| Children’s Memorial Hospital Complex (Chicago, Ill.) |
1 fast-food outlet; patients’ menu has chicken wings, quesadillas with bacon, and grilled hot dogs |
To read the complete report, visit PCRM.org/WorstHospitalFoods.
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To read the complete report, visit PCRM.org/WorstHospitalFoods.
PCRM Online,
January 2012
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