Doctors suggest anti-cholesterol pill with burger

Pill with your burger?

Fast food outlets like McDonalds and Burger King should supply customers with anti-cholesterol drugs along with their burger and fries, according to researchers at Imperial College London.

The pill would be placed alongside other condiments like ketchup and salt, to offer customers the opportunity to offset their chosen high cholesterol meal.

The pills in question would be Statins, an anti cholesterol drug that works by inhibiting the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase.

Darrel Francis from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College, London, says in the American Journal of Cardiology that the reduction in risk offered by a statin approximately equals the increase in risk from eating a cheeseburger and a milkshake.

Differing opinions

Dr Francis said: "Everybody knows that fast food is bad for you, but people continue to eat it because it tastes good.

"It makes sense to make risk-reducing supplements available just as easily as the unhealthy condiments that are provided free of charge. It would cost less than 5p per customer - not much different to a sachet of ketchup.

"When people engage in risky behaviours like driving or smoking, they're encouraged to take measures that minimise their risk, like wearing a seatbelt or choosing cigarettes with filters. Taking a statin is a rational way of lowering some of the risks of eating a fatty meal."

However, Professor Steve Field, chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, has been quick to denounce the proposal. "This paper just amazes me," he said. "Let's get real; we should be encouraging healthy lifestyles, not pill popping. 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."

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