PCRM Sizes Up Airport Restaurants

Getting ready to fly the friendly skies this holiday season? Between security delays and lay-overs you will probably find yourself in the precarious position of needing to dine at the airport restaurant. If you're hard at work on losing weight, it may be disconcerting to even entertain the thought: airports aren't exactly known for their healthy fare!

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has some information that you just might find helpful. The PCRM recently reviewed food at the busiest U.S. airports. Evaluations of the airports' restaurants were based on which of them served the most low-fat, high-fiber, and cholesterol-free meals.

Wondering if your stop passed with flying colors? Looks like you're in good shape if you're heading west: San Francisco International Airport repeated last year's high marks, with 96 percent of its restaurants offering healthy options. But if the Windy City's on your itinerary, your waistline's not as lucky: Chicago plummeted from number three on last year's review to number 10 on this year's, making it the airport with the lowest number of healthy choices.

"Because of national security issues and the holiday season approaching, people are spending more of their time waiting around in airports than ever before," said PCRM dietitian Brie Turner-McGrievy, MS, RD, in a news release. "And although more people than ever may need to eat before or between flights, healthy meals can be hard to find in more than half of the airports we surveyed."

The survey was conducted by PCRM dietitians, who found that the average percentage of healthy options remained about the same as last year. However, while some airports improved their standing in the ratings, others dropped theirs by as many as 20 percentage points. But there was an overall improvement from last year at the lower end of the ratings, in that the lowest score this year was nine percentage points higher than last year’s lowest score.

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