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FEATURE: Karen McColl The fattening truth about restaurant food BMJ 2008; 337: a2229 [Full text]

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Food for thought from Karen McColl

Carlo Pedrolli   (25 November 2008)

Legislation for drinking water !

Sujoy Ghosh, Susan Diamond, Andrew Collier   (25 November 2008)

Food for thought from Karen McColl 25 November 2008
Carlo Pedrolli, Consultant S. Chiara Hospital 38100 Trento ITALY Send response to journal: Re: Food for thought from Karen McColl	The paper written by Karen McColl raised many issues: 1. Nutritionist do not know how many calories are in a burger king or in one of many dishes you can find in a cafeteria or fast food; would you be so quiet if a Pharmacy Doctor would not be aware of pharmacology of some drugs sold over the counter in a supermarket? 2. People are able to choose a dish but they are not able to put this dish in complete lunch or a dinner; that’s food for thought for many nutritionist; we have to improve the nutritional education of people; as far as this is concerned English approach seems better than USA’s one; 3. People are not very interested in knowing the calories of a dish; I think they have better not to know them exactly but to concentrate to servings of single food 4. We have to turn industry from quantity to quality; we have to stress that may be industry can spare money using less food but better 5. Another matter which advices us not to avoid stressing calories to much in restaurants is the fact that people affected by eating disorders usually go to restaurants; they do know to much about calories and we do not need to teach them Competing interests: None declared
Legislation for drinking water ! 25 November 2008
Sujoy Ghosh, Clinical Teaching & Clinical Research Fellow The Ayr Hospital, KA6 6DX, Susan Diamond, Andrew Collier Send response to journal: Re: Legislation for drinking water !	We have read with interest the article by Karen McColl [1] and we are in agreement with the author. Consumers should be made aware of the calorie content of their meal. However, we are not surprised that “The New York State Restaurant Association” is not happy with the proposed legislation. We want to highlight another aspect of ‘eating out’. At fast-food outlets and restaurants, the consumer often does not have the option to chose ‘water’- the healthiest drink. Water is often not available and the consumer is made to pay for bottled water. The cost of which is usually equal to that of other available ‘soft drinks/beverages’. From personal experience we believe this may have a strange psychological effect on the consumer, particularly on children and adolescents, who feel ‘foolish’ paying for water when at the same price he/she could have a ‘tastier’ albeit unhealthy beverage. Healthy habits should be encouraged from an early age. In addition, some restaurants appear unhappy to serve ‘free tap water’. Some go to the extent of citing ‘health and safety’ reasons for the same. It makes one wonder what water they use for cooking! We would suggest that we need legislation in place not only to make sure that the consumer is made fully aware of what he/she eats but also to ensure that at all food outlets the consumer may be provided with free drinking water. It would be a small but significant step towards a healthier future. Dr. Sujoy Ghosh, Clinical Teaching & Clinical Research Fellow Ms. Susan Diamond, Dietician Dr. Andrew Collier, Consultant Physician The Ayr Hospital Dalmellington Road Ayr, Scotland, UK Email: drsujoyghosh@rediffmail.com [1] McColl K. The fattening truth about restaurant food. BMJ. 2008 Nov 18;337: 1198-99. Competing interests: None declared