The Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine publishes Good Medicine, an informative magazine. In its Summer 2021 issue an article heralded the end of a business relationship between University Hospital in Newark, NJ and Burger King which had been serving “…artery-clogging cheeseburgers and milkshakes to visitors, patients, and staff for about 25 years.”

In 2017 the Physicians Committee acquired the contract between the fast food giant, and the hospital through the New Jersey Open Public Records Act. The document alerted the Committee that the contract would expire this year, freeing the hospital to offer healthier food choices to visitors, patients, and staff.

The article concluded with a finding reported in the journal Circulation which reported, “…people who eat fast food once a week increase their risk of dying form heart disease by 20%. Two to three fast-food meals a week increase the risk of premature death by 50%. Four or more fast-food meals a week increase the risk of dying from heart disease by nearly 80%.”

This startling information reminds me of the Cleveland Clinic’s Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn who calls heart disease, our nation’s number one killer, “a food-borne illness.” The good news is that we can improve our health, and length of life, by making intelligent food choices.

Congratulations to Newark’s University Hospital for taking the first step to setting a good example for their community, and for taking better care of their patients and staff.

Dateline: Latham, Albany County, New York