Hospitals is where people go to when they are feeling sick, that's a given. But no one really considers the food of the institution when they "check-in." The food the hospitals offer has been painted with infamy for the longest time, with some questioning its quality, edibility, and taste, the most basic of questions that should be ask is: "Is it healthy?"

The irony of hospital food being so unhealthy was the subject of study of Dr. Lenard Lesser, primary investigator and physician in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program in the department of family medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles.

With the help of Research and Development Corp., a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decision-making through research and analysis, they assessed 16 food venues in 14 major children's hospitals in the state of California and discovered that there is much to be desired for.

On a scale of 0 to 37, former being least healthy and latter being most healthy, the average score for the 16 hospital food venues was only a 19.1. Of the 384 entrees and sandwiches the hospitals had to offer, only 7% qualified as healthy. And even though majority of the hospitals offered healthy alternatives, such as fruit, only a third of them had nutritional information.

During the course of the investigation, Dr. Lesser also found that 81% offered high-calorie, high-sugar items; 50% of the hospitals did not provide any indication that they served healthy entrees; only 25% had whole wheat bread; and 44% did not have low-calorie salad dressings.

However, since the study was conducted in July 2010, some of the hospitals have made some steps in improving their food offerings by eliminating fried food and lowering the price of salads while increasing the price of sugary beverages, or eliminating them altogether.

But unhealthy food is not only rampant in California, it can also be seen in children's hospitals in England. In a study conducted by the Consensus Action on Salt and Health, they discovered that almost half of the main meals had a lot of salt or saturated fat, reported Denis Campbell of The Guardian.

So why are foods in hospitals so unhealthy or bad for the patients? According to WiseGeek.com, most hospitals have bad food because:

- They have contracts with those who specialize in institutional food, same companies that make food for schools and prisons

- Takes advantage of bulk food costs, using cheaper and not so fresh ingredients

- Rarely caters to ethnic taste