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What Do You Mean KFC Isn't Healthy For You?
Aired November 10, 2003 - 14:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, also today, two stories that we will focus on, on a similar vein. Kentucky Fried Chicken out there claiming that it serves up a heaping helpin' of healthy food. We'll see about that. And what happens to your body on Ephedra, a wildly popular diet drug. Elizabeth Cohen is here to sort out all matters relating to these things.
I'm sorry, KFC, I just never would put it in that category.
(CROSSTALK)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: ... themselves in that category. It is really an incredible piece of marketing. And many health experts are saying, Hold on a second. How could fried chicken be good for you? Let's take a look at one of the ads in the new ad campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AD ANNOUNCER: Two original recipe chicken breasts have less fat than a BK Whopper. Or go skinless for just 3 grams of fat per piece. And now get a 12 piece bucket for $9.99.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, I'm doing this for you.
AD ANNOUNCER: For a fresh way to eat better you've got to KFC what's cooking.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Skinless?
COHEN: Miles just said to me did he really say skinless?
O'BRIEN: What's the point?
COHEN: Yes, who eats Kentucky Fried Chicken skinless? I would love to meet that person. I love fried chicken but you eat it because...
O'BRIEN: I'm sorry. I'd say that's advertising with extra hutzpa.
COHEN: Yes, hutzpa. Yes, there are probably other words for it too but, yes, hutzpa...
O'BRIEN: I interrupted because I was so bowled over.
(CROSSTALK)
COHEN: Another thing they point out is they say, Hey, our chicken has less fat than a Burger King Whopper. Well talk about damning with faint praise, a Whopper has 46 grams of fat. Well, Gee, I mean, that's not hard to beat that.
KFC says these -- actually, this is from Center for Science and the Public Interest who wants these ads off the air. They say, "These ads don't tell the truth. They take the truth dip it in batter and deep fry it. Colonel Sanders himself would have a hard time swallowing the ad campaign."
KFC says in response, "Our ads simply set the record straight by providing the absolute facts about the original fried chicken which can be part of a healthy and balanced diet." Especially, I guess, if you take the skin off.
O'BRIEN: Less fat than lard.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: ... Colonel Sanders' bolo tie spinning over this one.
Let's talk about a typical meal. The coleslaw is good for you, right?
(CROSSTALK)
COHEN: ... tons of fat in it. Who would have thought? It's vegetables. It must be in the dressing.
Let's take a look. We decided to see, OK, you go to KFC and you order two pieces of chicken, coleslaw and a biscuit. We thought that was a pretty reasonable meal. The biscuit has 10 grams of fat, the coleslaw more, 11 grams of fat, two chicken breasts 38 grams of fat.
O'BRIEN: That's with skin.
(CROSSTALK)
COHEN: And in the commercial they were eating it with skin. The total is 59 grams of fat, 1,140 calories. Fifty-nine grams of fat is approximately what you're supposed to get in an entire day and you're getting it in one meal. And we didn't even do dessert. If we got extra crispy it would have sent it through the roof.
O'BRIEN: Or the pie.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: Extra crispy is worse?
COHEN: Yes, more fat and calories.
O'BRIEN: Don't believe the hype.
Our audience is intelligent.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: ... we like to beat a dead chicken every now and then.
Let's go on to Ephedra, wildly popular but have you to watch it.
COHEN: You do have to watch it according to this study and according to many studies. Lots of concerns about Ephedra. There have been some high-profile deaths, actually, from folks who have taken products.
This is a study coming out of the American Heart Association this week being presented there. What they did is they gave people just a single dose of a metabolized product that contains Ephedra, not a high dose.
And what it found is that just hour after taking a single dose systolic blood pressure, the top number in blood pressure, went up ten points in just one hour. The diastolic pressure went up five points.
And they say this is a dangerous thing, especially since the instructions tell you that you can take it every four hours. So that if you take that every four hours day after day you're basically sustaining that kind of blood pressure.
O'BRIEN: That there's some people out there who are taking more than that, as well. So obviously that's...
COHEN: Probably. And Metobolife says our product is safe if taken as directed. One of the concerns is people often don't do that.
O'BRIEN: All right. Elizabeth, thanks for dropping by. Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 10, 2003 - 14:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, also today, two stories that we will focus on, on a similar vein. Kentucky Fried Chicken out there claiming that it serves up a heaping helpin' of healthy food. We'll see about that. And what happens to your body on Ephedra, a wildly popular diet drug. Elizabeth Cohen is here to sort out all matters relating to these things.
I'm sorry, KFC, I just never would put it in that category.
(CROSSTALK)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: ... themselves in that category. It is really an incredible piece of marketing. And many health experts are saying, Hold on a second. How could fried chicken be good for you? Let's take a look at one of the ads in the new ad campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AD ANNOUNCER: Two original recipe chicken breasts have less fat than a BK Whopper. Or go skinless for just 3 grams of fat per piece. And now get a 12 piece bucket for $9.99.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, I'm doing this for you.
AD ANNOUNCER: For a fresh way to eat better you've got to KFC what's cooking.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Skinless?
COHEN: Miles just said to me did he really say skinless?
O'BRIEN: What's the point?
COHEN: Yes, who eats Kentucky Fried Chicken skinless? I would love to meet that person. I love fried chicken but you eat it because...
O'BRIEN: I'm sorry. I'd say that's advertising with extra hutzpa.
COHEN: Yes, hutzpa. Yes, there are probably other words for it too but, yes, hutzpa...
O'BRIEN: I interrupted because I was so bowled over.
(CROSSTALK)
COHEN: Another thing they point out is they say, Hey, our chicken has less fat than a Burger King Whopper. Well talk about damning with faint praise, a Whopper has 46 grams of fat. Well, Gee, I mean, that's not hard to beat that.
KFC says these -- actually, this is from Center for Science and the Public Interest who wants these ads off the air. They say, "These ads don't tell the truth. They take the truth dip it in batter and deep fry it. Colonel Sanders himself would have a hard time swallowing the ad campaign."
KFC says in response, "Our ads simply set the record straight by providing the absolute facts about the original fried chicken which can be part of a healthy and balanced diet." Especially, I guess, if you take the skin off.
O'BRIEN: Less fat than lard.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: ... Colonel Sanders' bolo tie spinning over this one.
Let's talk about a typical meal. The coleslaw is good for you, right?
(CROSSTALK)
COHEN: ... tons of fat in it. Who would have thought? It's vegetables. It must be in the dressing.
Let's take a look. We decided to see, OK, you go to KFC and you order two pieces of chicken, coleslaw and a biscuit. We thought that was a pretty reasonable meal. The biscuit has 10 grams of fat, the coleslaw more, 11 grams of fat, two chicken breasts 38 grams of fat.
O'BRIEN: That's with skin.
(CROSSTALK)
COHEN: And in the commercial they were eating it with skin. The total is 59 grams of fat, 1,140 calories. Fifty-nine grams of fat is approximately what you're supposed to get in an entire day and you're getting it in one meal. And we didn't even do dessert. If we got extra crispy it would have sent it through the roof.
O'BRIEN: Or the pie.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: Extra crispy is worse?
COHEN: Yes, more fat and calories.
O'BRIEN: Don't believe the hype.
Our audience is intelligent.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: ... we like to beat a dead chicken every now and then.
Let's go on to Ephedra, wildly popular but have you to watch it.
COHEN: You do have to watch it according to this study and according to many studies. Lots of concerns about Ephedra. There have been some high-profile deaths, actually, from folks who have taken products.
This is a study coming out of the American Heart Association this week being presented there. What they did is they gave people just a single dose of a metabolized product that contains Ephedra, not a high dose.
And what it found is that just hour after taking a single dose systolic blood pressure, the top number in blood pressure, went up ten points in just one hour. The diastolic pressure went up five points.
And they say this is a dangerous thing, especially since the instructions tell you that you can take it every four hours. So that if you take that every four hours day after day you're basically sustaining that kind of blood pressure.
O'BRIEN: That there's some people out there who are taking more than that, as well. So obviously that's...
COHEN: Probably. And Metobolife says our product is safe if taken as directed. One of the concerns is people often don't do that.
O'BRIEN: All right. Elizabeth, thanks for dropping by. Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
