Healthy food options at biggest airports on the rise

Friday, Dec. 12, 2003 | 10:38 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

WASHINGTON -- Mouths may not water at the thought of airport dining. But as airlines serve fewer in-flight meals and require passengers to show up earlier, hungry travelers are increasingly foraging in the terminals -- a trend that has physicians concerned about the healthfulness of what they eat.

But a survey of the 15 busiest airports by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine found it is getting easier for travelers to find meals that are low in fat and cholesterol and high in fiber, though not in every city.

The airport with the most healthy options is Denver International Airport, followed by San Francisco International Airport and Chicago O'Hare International Airport, the study being released Friday found.

Wholesome meals in Denver included the portabella mushroom sandwich at Lefty's Colorado Trails Bar and Grill and the vegetable tacos at Que Bueno Mexican Grill.

In Chicago it was the ubiquity of Starbucks -- 15 franchises -- that bumped up O'Hare from last place a year ago. The coffee chain introduced a roasted vegetable panini to its menu, said Brie Turner-McGrievy, a registered dietitian who studies nutrition at the nation's airports for the committee.

The least healthy food options, were found at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, Las Vegas McCarran International Airport and Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

Those airports are loaded with burger, pizza and hot dog joints, but little else, Turner-McGrievy said.

It was the third straight year that McCarran landed on the bottom end of the organization's list.

This year, the organization said 38 percent of the airport's restaurants offer alternatives to high-fat, high-cholesterol food choices. That compares with 45 percent in 2001 and 2002.

Hilarie Grey, a spokeswoman for McCarran, referred calls to HMS Host, the master concessionaire over food and beverage at McCarran, but that company's spokeswoman could not be reached for comment.

When criticized in previous years, McCarran officials pointed out that several food outlets at the airport offer salads, turkey burgers and turkey sausages and that passengers are surveyed to determine what kinds of food outlets they want.

McCarran officials also noted that the airport has a 24 Hour Fitness Center on site.

A harsh critique was also leveled at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, which ranked ninth: "This airport describes itself as the place 'Where America Greets the World,' but the food offered here presents justifiable doubts about the American diet."

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is a Washington-based organization that promotes preventive health through better nutrition.

"Passengers have enough to worry about before boarding a plane. They don't need the added fear of skyrocketing cholesterol levels," Turner-McGrievy said.

The rankings are based on the percentage of restaurants at each airport that offer at least one entree that was low in fat, high in fiber and cholesterol-free. Two-thirds of the airports scored higher than 50 percent in the latest study, compared with two out of five in 2002, when just 10 airports were surveyed.

Turney-McGrievy attributes the improvement, to consumers' growing awareness of the nation's "obesity epidemic" and the restaurant industry's response to changing tastes.

Even if Americans on the whole are not getting thinner, Turney-McGrievy said people are starting to think a little more before they eat. And with all that extra time at airports, they have the luxury of being pickier about what they buy.