Junk food prevails at medical conferences.

• Position: Nutrition - Brief Article

Physicians are the most respected voice on nutrition in the U.S., yet what they are served and eat at medical meetings does not reflect their leadership and may impair their performance at conferences, points out research from John La Puma of the Santa Barbara (Calif.) Institute for Medical Nutrition and Healthy Weight.

Researchers interviewed meeting planners for 13 major medical professional societies, representing over 250,000 physicians and more than 2,000,000 planned meals and snacks. For determining food, wine, and snacks for the meetings, budget and nutritional guidelines were rated "very important" by 61.5% of meeting planners. No planner rated "fad diets" as "very important"

However, the food reported as served was rich, sweet, and caloric, and doctors were "an easy-to-please group." Desserts were present with every lunch and dinner and soda was offered with 100% of snack breaks. No specific nutritional guidelines...