Although everyone is aware of the fact that fast-food isn’t the healthiest fare out there, it turns out that there are degrees of unhealthiness when it comes to mass-produced culinary options—and some are leaps and bounds worse for you than others.
The virtual primary care website Plushcare recently conducted a survey of America’s top fast-food chains, analyzing five “traditional” fast food orders—burgers, chicken nuggets, chicken sandwiches, French fries, and vanilla shakes—to find the brands that serve the absolute unhealthiest options. Among the 24 chains analyzed, one stood out as serving both the unhealthiest versions of burgers and fries.
Based on the data, the unhealthiest burger in America is the cheeseburger sold at Five Guys, boasting 73% more saturated fat than any other fast-food cheeseburger analyzed by the website. To boot, Five Guys French fries were also deemed the least nutritious when compared to other brands. In fact, ordering them would add 953 calories to your meal—making them nearly 50% more unhealthy than others.
“While some fats are healthy, saturated fats carry a heart disease risk and can lead to weight gain,” wrote the researchers.
To come up with its ranking, the website looked at each chain’s nutritional menu and compared the calories, sugar, saturated fat, and sodium values for the products. They then scored them according to the Department of Health’s nutrient profiling method.
In other categories, the least wholesome chicken nuggets are the ones cooked at Popeyes. Even more specifically, all analyzed nuggets except for ones from McDonald’s boast sodium scores in the double figures. “Still, Popeyes stands out due to saturated fat levels that are around double or more than any other nuggets.”
You also might want to stay away from the chicken sandwich on offer at Popeyes, which scored most poorly in that category, also due to high levels of sodium.
Think about it this way: the American Heart Association recommends a maximum of 1,500 milligrams of sodium a day but the ten unhealthiest chicken burgers served at fast food chains feature levels that are above 1,642.6 milligrams. That’s a lot.
As for the unhealthiest vanilla shake out there, that would be the one prepared at Fatburger, which boasts a whopping 890 calories, 30 grams of saturated fat, and 86 grams of sugar.
For what it’s worth, according to the World Economic Forum, about half of Americans are trying their best to eat more healthily—”but 46% say food pricing makes this more difficult,” reports the study. Here’s to hoping things will soon change, making it easier for the U.S. population at large to make better dining decisions.
