Fries? Nope, pharmaceuticals. That’s right, some moron with a PhD is recommending that McDonald’s start dispensing statins alongside side the ketchup. You can’t make this shit up.
Article:
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2010/08/would-you-like-a-statin-with-y.html
Text:
A suggestion that fast food outlets should hand out statins to counteract the increased risk of heart disease associated with high fat meals has provoked a chorus of criticism.
Darrel Francis at Imperial College London and colleagues compared existing research on the cholesterol-lowering drugs and the cardiovascular dangers of fatty diets.
They concluded that including a daily 200-gram hamburger in the average person’s diet increased their chances of developing heart disease by 18 per cent. A daily cheeseburger and a small milkshake boosted this to 23 per cent, according to the study, to be published this weekend in the American Journal of Cardiology.
Statins reduce levels of low-density lipoprotein - sometimes called “bad cholesterol” because of its link to heart disease.
The team used a meta-analysis of seven trials involving 42,800 patients to calculate that taking a daily standard dose of a statin drug reduced a person’s chances of cardiovascular disease by an average of 29 per cent.
The researchers said they envisaged a future in which a packet of “McStatin” would be handed out automatically “next to the ketchup” in fast food restaurants. They acknowledged that a study of the risks of allowing people to take statins without medical supervision would be needed.
“It’s ironic that people are free to take as many unhealthy condiments in fast food outlets as they like, but statins, which are beneficial to heart health, have to be prescribed,” Francis told the BBC.
Critics were quick to denounce the idea on the grounds that there were other health risks associated with fatty diets, and that some people might choose to take the pills rather than adopt healthier lifestyles.
In an interview with the Guardian, Steve Field, chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said:
"This is an unwelcome addition to the 'pill for every ill' attitude that's already much too common. The danger of this research is that some people will become even more complacent about eating fatty food and high calorie food, and might even increase their intake of them."
Fast food chains weren’t keen on the idea either, as a spokesman for McDonald’s made clear:
"We provide a good range of meal options which include porridge, bagels and salads, as well as providing the nutritional information to ensure people can make dietary choices that are right for them. It would not be appropriate or safe for any restaurant chain to offer medication of any kind to its customers."
Asked by New Scientist whether he had received funding from statin manufacturers, Francis replied:
"No, the only conflict of interest would be that I quite like hamburgers."