Burger King does the right thing

   Burger King, as part of a lawsuit settlement, has begun posting signs in its California restaurants warning people that its grilled chicken contains PhIP, a cancer-causing compound.

  Burger King is the first of seven national restaurant chains to post the signs, a measure that stemmed from settling a California lawsuit with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

  I'll be the first to admit that I rarely eat from a fast-food restaurant -- it goes against every nutritional fiber in my body. But on the rare instances that I've eaten there, I've always chosen a salad or grilled chicken without the bun.

  Whoa! Now I learn grilled chicken contains a group of carcinogenic compounds, called heterocyclic amines, that have been linked to breast, colon, bladder and prostate cancers. The compounds are produced when meats are cooked at high temperatures.

  "Health-conscious Americans have long steered away from fried chicken, but they have no idea that grilled chicken may be as bad or worse,'' said Dr. Neal Barnard, president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. "Burger King is doing the right thing by warning consumers that its grilled chicken dishes contain dangerous carcinogens.''

The other restaurant chains that were sued -- McDonald's, Chick-fil-A, Applebee's, Outback Steakhouse, Chili's and T.G.I. Friday's have yet to post the signs. The signs are posted only in Burger King's California restaurants, as the lawsut was filed in L.A. under Proposition 65, which protects the health and safety of Californians. (You've got to love California!)

A lab tested 100 grilled chicken samples from Burger King and the restaurants listed above. Every single sample was found to contain PhIP. PhIP was not found in the BK Veggie or Veggie Whopper, as it's found only in animal protein. (Another reason to go veggie!)

Burger King also said this week that it would limit sodium in its Kids Meals to 600 milligrams or less, or about one-fourth of the recommended daily allowance for sodium. While this is a good first step, Burger King and the other chains still have much work to do on their calorie and fat content.

After all, the Whopper with Cheese still weighs in at 770 calories, with 1.5 grams of artery-clogging trans fats and 1,450 mg of blood-pressure rising sodium. The Triple Whopper with Cheese? A whopping 1,250 calories - or more than half your total recommended calories for a day, plus 3.5 grams of trans fats and 1,600 mg sodium.

Clearly, our arteries and blood pressure deserve better than that!