Britain’s most calorific sausage rolls revealed… and Gregg’s ISN’T the worst offender

Britain’s highest-calorie sausage roll is even worse for your waistline than two pints of beer, analysis shows.

But the worst offender is not sold at Greggs.

Instead, Ginsters’ meat-filled butter pastry, which retails for £1.25 in stores, contains 480 calories.

This is almost as much as what’s in a McDonald’s Big Mac (493) or about four slices of toast soaked in butter (520).

Options sold at Sainsbury’s, M&S and Morrisons, among others, were in the top 10.

MailOnline checked dozens of savory treats sold in shops across the UK ahead of National Sausage Roll Day.

We looked at options at chains such as Greggs, as well as ready-made sandwiches available at Tesco and Asda, among others.

Ginsters Large Sausage Rolls The number of calories corresponds to almost a quarter of a woman’s recommended daily intake (2,000) and a fifth of a man’s recommended daily intake (2,500).

It also contained 15.3 g of saturated fat and 1.4 g of salt.

Health chiefs advise women to eat no more than 20 grams of saturated fat per day, while men are told to stay under 30 grams. Too much can raise cholesterol and increase the risk of heart disease.

Salt should be capped at 6g per day, as too much salt can cause high blood pressure, which can lead to heart attacks and strokes.

Sainsbury’s Jumbo Sausage Roll (£1.25) was the second most caloric (442).

Pukka Pork Sausage Roll (£1.30, 424 calories), Too Good To Be Gluten Free Sausage Roll (£2.50, 410 calories) and Wall’s Jumbo Sausage Roll (£1.05, 408 calories) rounded out the top five .

However, smaller options can contain a fifth of the calories of jumbo options. Snack-sized portions available at Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Morrisons can contain 100 calories or less.

Dr. Duane Mellor, one of Britain’s top nutrition researchers, told MailOnline it should come as no surprise that sausage rolls aren’t “the healthiest snack option.”

Dr. Mellor, a registered dietitian at Aston Medical School in Birmingham, noted that pastry and sausage fillings are often high in fat, saturated fat and salt.

He added: ‘What may surprise people is that there is often little difference between the calorie, fat and salt content in traditional pork sausage rolls and their vegan counterparts.

“If you really want to eat a sausage roll, then it’s probably best to get a smaller sandwich or share a larger sandwich and add salad to give your picnic a boatload of vitamins, minerals, and fiber.” ‘

Professor Gunter Kuhnle, an expert in nutrition and food science at the University of Reading, told MailOnline that it’s ‘difficult to turn a sausage roll into a healthy diet’.

“The pastry itself usually contains quite a bit of fat, especially homemade versions, but it’s more like comfort food,” he said.

People need to realize that it is possible “being quite caloric with a high fat and saturated fat content,” added Professor Kuhnle.

Sausage sandwiches are therefore not good for Britain’s bulging waistline.

The latest NHS data shows that 26 per cent of adults in England are obese and a further 38 per cent are overweight but not obese. One third of Americans are overweight, while four in ten are obese.

Obesity rates have been rising for decades, with experts blaming sedentary lifestyles and unhealthy diets.

They are also rising in children, with a quarter of children in shelters in England now considered overweight and one in ten obese.

A landmark study earlier this month found that the obesity epidemic is taking billions of pounds out of the ailing NHS each year, with twice as much being spent on obese patients as on those of a healthy weight.

The cost per patient increases dramatically as people weigh more because they “accumulate obesity-related conditions” such as type 2 diabetes, cancer and heart disease, according to research involving nearly 2.5 million people.

Sausage sandwiches, which can be traced back to 19th century France, made headlines last month after Gregg’s won the right to operate its shop in London’s Leicester Square until 2am Thursday to Saturday.

Last year, the chain had asked to sell its baked goods 24/7. But Westminster City Council, which oversees nighttime permits in the West End, rejected the offer.

That decision came after the Met Police shared fears it would lead to a spike in “crime and disorder.”

A spokesperson for Sainsbury’s said: ‘We offer a range of sausage rolls, including our Sainsbury’s Sausage Rolls in a pack of nine, each containing 94 calories.

“We are committed to providing choice, quality and value and clearly labeling our products with nutritional information to help our customers make informed decisions about the products they want to buy.”