Letter: McDonald’s not serious about healthier foods

Monday, Sept. 9, 2002 | 8:36 a.m.

McDonald's is boasting about the improved oil used in its french fries while continuing to sell unhealthy, artery-clogging burgers loaded with saturated fat and cholesterol.

If McDonald's is really serious about giving customers healthier food, it should follow the lead of Burger King and offer a veggie burger. Leading health authorities advise Americans to reduce their dietary cholesterol intake by cutting back on consumption of animal fat and meat.

More than 60 million Americans suffer from heart disease and nearly 500,000 die each year. Obesity has become an epidemic in the United States. The leading cause of obesity is excessive consumption of fat-laden meat and dairy products and inadequate exercise. An American Cancer Society survey of 1 million people found that overweight people run a higher risk of premature death from heart disease or cancer. Obesity also increases the risk of stroke, diabetes and high blood pressure.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, diseases associated with consumption of animal fat and meat collectively account for 1.37 million U.S. deaths annually, or nearly 60 percent of the total.

Come on, McDonald's, join the 21st century and start offering us some of those delicious and healthy veggie burgers that we order at your competitors' restaurants.

DEBBIE DILL