Airports Dish Up More Heart-Healthy Meals
Fast-food weary travelers, take heart: options for airport meals are improving. In its annual survey of the U.S.'s 15 major airports, the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine says that healthy food choices at airport restaurants are up 57 percent from a decade ago.
In 2001, PCRM began taking stock of airport menus in the nation's busiest airports, tallying up how many restaurants per airport had at least one healthy menu item—that is, low-fat, high-fiber, and cholesterol-free. The number of restaurants that met the criteria was then divided by the total number of restaurants in each airport to determine an overall airport cuisine "healthy" rating. Back then, the news was dismal. Most airports landed well below what PCRM considered an acceptable limit. Only San Francisco, at the vanguard of fresh, local food options, received praise. The survey continued annually, collecting data for the past decade.
Today, PCRM's survey counts food that is vegetarian, cholesterol-free and low in fat, and results show that getting a nutritious bite to eat while waiting for a flight is easier. Airports are tuning in to consumer demand for heart-healthy eats. Detroit’s Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, which took last place in 2001, landed first place this year for the third year in a row; every restaurant in the airport offers at least one healthy menu option. Charlotte-Douglas International also did well, making more progress than any other airport since last year with a nine percent increase.
So who's lagging behind? Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International ranked last, with only 71 percent of its eateries serving up something satisfactory. The airport's score sank because of the presence of fast food chains that featured no nutritious offerings at all.
Susan Levin, nutrition education director for PCRM, tells USA Today that while airport restaurants are "still a little confused about what a healthy meal looks like," they're trying to improve. One way to do that is to bring in local restaurants in lieu of the typical chain restaurant fare, a strategy San Francisco International Airport honed in on back in 2001.
In the meantime, Levin recommends travelers consider a strategy that is tried and true among nutrition-savvy eaters: bringing fruit, nuts, and a sandwich from home.
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