Many US hospitals, including children's hospitals, continue to serve McDonald's fast food in their cafeterias

Wednesday, April 25, 2012 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
Tags: hospitals, McDonalds, fast food

(NaturalNews) Many people still think of hospitals as places where the sick become healthy, and where disease is nursed into wellness -- but these notions could not be further from the truth. Besides being cesspools of antibiotic-resistant "superbugs" and filth in many cases, dozens of U.S. hospitals, including children's hospitals, continue to serve McDonald's fast food to guests in their cafeterias and lobbies, a telling indictment of Western medicine's prevailing lack of discernment and knowledge in the area of proper nutrition.

The group Corporate Accountability International (CAI), a consumer advocacy group, recently sent a formal letter to 21 U.S. hospitals that still serve McDonald's to guests and visitors, urging them to "stop fostering a food environment that promotes harm, not health." The group cites numerous statistics that point to junk foods, like those served at McDonald's, contributing to the very diseases now being treated at U.S. hospitals.

"The rates of children suffering from diet-related disease are staggering," says the letter. "Today, private practices, pediatric clinics, and emergency rooms are increasingly bearing witness to children suffering from preventable chronic conditions related to the food they eat [...] in the decades to come, one in three children will develop type 2 diabetes as a result of diets high in McDonald's-style junk food."

You can read the entire petition letter here:
http://www.stopcorporateabuse.org/node/1654

Hospitals that still serve McDonald's include Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago; the Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis; Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego; and Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. CAI is urging these hospitals and others to end their contracts with McDonald's, and begin working towards the implementation of food options that support the role of improving health, rather than counteract it.

"We hear from physicians saying kids come in for their diabetic check-ups and they hear the parents saying, 'If you are well-behaved, we'll take you for a treat at the McDonald's down the hall," said Sara Deon, director of CAI's McDonald's campaign, to USA Today about the hypocrisy of the situation. It is akin to NaturalNews selling pharmaceutical drugs while simultaneously promoting health and wellness through nutrition.

If hospitals were truly about health, they would focus on serving more organic, grass-fed, and 'superfood' items

Getting rid of McDonald's is a start, but most hospital food, including the food served to sick and dying patients, is completely devoid of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, probiotics, and other important nutrients that promote health. In fact, most hospital food is highly processed and loaded with toxic chemicals, which puts patients at risk of developing further illnesses and infections.

Some hospitals are starting to do things right, including over 40 hospitals in the Northeast that have begun purchasing clean, local foods, including grass-fed meats, to serve to patients (http://www.americanfarm.com). But many others are still greatly lacking in the nutritional department, and patients nationwide are suffering as a result.

Sources for this article include:

http://yourlife.usatoday.com

http://www.activistpost.com