"There seem to be days or meals where there are not 'Healthy Options' noted," Berry says.

According to Miller, the labels may have been left out because of an error when the format of the printed menu was recently changed.

Healthy Choices

Despite the discrepancies inherent in the "Nutrition Bites" program, Dining Services has joined the trend in cafeterias to offer more healthy choices alongside the unhealthy but popular items.

Elena Martinez, a nutritional epidemiologist at the School of Public Health, says offering a variety of choices is the key to promoting healthy eating in cafeterias.

"If you offer more of the good stuff, instead of taking away the pizza and burgers, that's a way to start," she says.

She lists chicken, fish, frozen yogurt, low-calorie salad dressings and broth-based soups among healthier alternatives that should be offered in cafeterias.

"There's French fries and greasy, nasty stuff every day," says Kalil S. Oldham '99.

According to Martinez, any food that has more than 35 percent of its calories from fat is unhealthy. French fries, pizza and ice cream, common fare in the dining halls, are examples of unhealthy foods.

"[The dining halls] have good stuff too," says Bill S. Triant '99. "But it's hard not to choose the junk."

Hung says choosing the Bul Koki beef and Rocky Road ice cream offered for dinner on January 18, a meal high in fat and protein, may not have maximized the productivity of students who then tried to study for their finals.

Bul Koki beef contains 17.98 grams of fat per serving, five grams more than a McDonald's cheeseburger.

"You may do well in terms of alertness but may feel full and kind of gross," Hung says.

The long-term effects of consistently eating red meat and fat are worse, she says. Diet-related illnesses, such as heart disease and certain types of cancer, make up the seven leading causes of death in the U.S., according to the 1988 Surgeon General's report.

Hung says the average woman, who eats between 1500 and 1800 calories per day, should have about 50 to 60 grams of fat per day. The average male, who eats between 2000 and 2500 calories per day, should have about 75 to 80 grams of fat per day.

Hung and Berry agree that students should not decide what to eat based solely upon the numbers on the signs.

"There aren't always signs and we shouldn't always believe the signs," Hung says.