Fast food outlets
are common inside children's hospitals,
leading more patients to consume
hamburgers and fries and encouraging
them to view the fare as healthier
than it probably is, a study said.
Of 200 hospitals with pediatric residency
programs surveyed, 59 had fast-food
restaurants on site, said the report
published in Pediatrics, the journal
of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
More than half the patients or family
members visiting hospitals with fast
food outlets said they ate fast food
the day they were surveyed, which
was four times the rate among people
at hospitals without outlets, the
survey of 386 people found.
McDonald's, which does provide financial
support to some of the hospitals surveyed
and operates several homes for ill
children, was the prevalent restaurant
in hospitals studied.
McDonald's spokesman Bill Whitman
said he had not yet seen the study.
Study author Hannah Sahud of Children's
Memorial Hospital in Chicago criticized
the presence of fast food restaurants
in children's hospitals, given the
epidemic of childhood obesity that
many researchers blame at least in
part on fast food.
She said "efforts are needed to balance
the dietary choices and social messages"
sent by locating them in children's
hospitals.
