WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Before flying away to fattening family dinners this holiday season, holiday travelers can find tasty, low-fat, nutritious meals at certain airports to offset some of the usual high-calorie seasonal goodies, a new survey suggests.
The survey, released by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a medical watchdog group that also promotes vegetarianism, looked at the nation's 10 busiest airports and ranked them according to their ability to provide travelers with healthy eating options.
San Francisco International Airport, often a hub to Pacific Rim cities, was ranked number one with the best range of nutritious, low-fat choices and also the widest variety of vegetarian options.
"One of the things San Francisco did was to kick out all of the fast food restaurants and pretty much rely on the local restaurants," Brie Turner-McGrievy, clinical research coordinator for PCRM, told United Press International.
"One thing that struck me was you could get vegetarian choices at every restaurant" at San Francisco International.
According to the survey, out of the airport's 26 restaurants, 25 offered at least one low-fat, low-calorie vegetarian entree, such as the grilled eggplant sandwich at Emporio Rulli. Turner-McGrievy said that San Francisco offers so many delicious and nutritious choices from numerous ethnic restaurants that folks easily can sample the world's cuisines without boarding a plane.
At the other end of the scale, Chicago's O'Hare International Airport was ranked last by the PCRM survey. Although O'Hare ranked third in the last survey -- in 2000 -- it dropped to the bottom primarily because of the 15 Starbucks outlets there now.
Starbucks, the coffee chain giant, garnered Chicago the bottom ranking because even though it offers soy milk and fat-free milk and salads, the pre-packaged sandwiches sold there "all have cheese and meat on them," according to the survey.
As airlines cut back on meal service, Turner-McGrievy said, more travelers are relying on food served at airports to bring onto the plane with them. Airport requirements to arrive for earlier check-ins also mean travelers are spending longer periods of time there.
Rounding out the rankings was Denver in second place, followed by Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Minneapolis.
The researchers looked at the airports' availability of low-fat, high-fiber, cholesterol-free meals. Only restaurants that served breakfast, lunch, or dinner entrees were rated in the survey. Establishments such as yogurt and coffee shops were not surveyed if they did not carry an entree. The report only looked at food served at the airports -- not by the airlines.
When asked why some of the major East Coast city airports, such as Boston, New York City and Washington didn't make the list, Turner-McGrievy said these cities disperse their passenger loads among multiple airports. The other airports listed were primarily single hubs, she explained, so they typically have more traffic.
Keith Ayoob, a spokesman for the American Dietetic Association and a professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, questioned some points of the survey.
For example, restaurants that serve pre-made sandwiches with cheese shouldn't be considered a problem.
"The fact there's a cheese option isn't necessarily a minus," Ayoob told UPI. "Considering that people don't consume enough calcium, that could be a plus."
He also said the survey suggests that any restaurants serving animal products, such as meats and cheeses, are providing unhealthy foods. "The idea it can't be healthy unless it's vegetarian is really unfair," he said.
"That's an unfair message. You can have animal food that's quite low in fat and healthy."
He added: "The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine makes no bones about really wanting to advocate for veganism, which is based on total abstinence of animal products."
Asked why so many of the cities rated at the top were from the West Coast, Ayoob, a native San Franciscan and long-time resident of New York, said the West Coast has always been a trend-setter when it comes to healthy eating.
"In general, the West, in the past, has led a number of food trends that sort of find their way East," he said.