What will the McMenu of the future look like?

America's love affair with fast food has hit a rocky patch.

There is litigation in the air. Nutritionists warn us about trans-fats and super-sizing our way to obesity. Something is not right in the drive-thru, our transport to a half-century of low-cost, high-calorie, turned-on-a-dime comfort food.

As Americans get fatter, and critics look for culprits among peddlers of cheeseburgers and chicken fingers, the nation may be about to engage in an epic culinary transformation.

"People who eat fast food tend to have the high-fat and low-fiber diets we associate with obesity," says Gail Woodward-Lopez, associate director of the Center for Weight and Health at the University of California at Berkeley. "We're not asking anyone in the fast-food industry to go out of business. But serving nutritious foods must be given a priority in our culture, just like providing ... safe buildings." Saddled with slumping sales and worried by the prospect of obesity lawsuits and more government regulation, the industry suddenly finds itself on the defensive. With its dismal record of developing healthy alternatives to burgers and fries -- remember the McLean Burger and Taco Bell's low-calorie Border Lights line? -- the large chains wonder: Do we stick with the Big Macs and Whoppers that got us where we are, or do we beef up our menus with healthier selections our core customers may not even want?

"Americans feel they can make their own decisions on what they should be eating, and they don't want the federal government or anyone else telling them what to eat," says Steven Anderson, president of the 300,000-member National Restaurant Association, which often serves as the mouthpiece of the fast-food chains. "We are driven by customer demand. In 2003, we'll serve more than 53 billion meals at all restaurants, which means there is no industry that has its finger on the pulse of 280 million Americans like we do. We see them every day and we know what they want."

Change is gradualSo what will Americans want to see on the McMenu of the future? Most new items are in development for as much as two years, so any real change will be gradual. And no one is predicting the demise of fast food, which food writer Claire Hope Cummings calls an American "addiction, built deep into our psyche and lifestyles."

Even if fast-food chains do offer healthier items, they still must deal with the critics' top complaint -- super-sizing, or offering a lot more of an item for a minimal increase in price. Since industry's biggest cost is labor, that extra few cents is nearly pure profit. So while doing things like using healthier oils is a step in the right direction, it doesn't solve the problem of what nutritionist Alice Ammerman of University of North Carolina calls "the hugeness of everything" in today's fast food.

Ammerman said one of her students estimated that by super-sizing three meals a week, just the additional calories would potentially lead to a weight gain of 16 pounds a year.

The industry rejects the notion that America is super-sizing its way to obesity. Anderson says "those who do order a super-sized portion often share it among several people. If you don't want the super-size, have the slim size, have the Diet Coke; people are trying to blame obesity on portion size."

That sort of standoff between industry and critics does not bode well for healthier fast foods in the future. Some nutritionists worry that fast food and healthy food may, in fact, be mutually exclusive. The big challenge, as marketing futurist Faith Popcorn put it, "is trying to provide a good diet that is cool and hip as well as healthy."

FAST FOOD AND OBESITY

30:Percentage of consumers who agree that meals prepared at a restaurant or fast-food establishment are essential to the way they live.

177,000: Of the 844,000 eateries in the United States, the number serving fast food.

34: Percentage of calories Americans consume outside the home.

$120.9:Total fast-food sales projected for 2003, in billions.

46.1: Percentage of the restaurant-industry share of the food dollar today.

25: Percentage in 1955.

96: Percentage of schoolchildren who can identify Ronald McDonald.

SOURCES: The U.S. Department of Agriculture; the National Restaurant Association; the Center for Science in the Public Interest; "Fast Food Nation," by Eric Schlosser.