Surprising study reveals US’s most and least healthiest burgers – where does your guilty pleasure rank?
The burgers are cooked right in front of you and claim to be made from high-quality meat, but Five Guys’ classic cheeseburger is the unhealthiest in America.
And McDonald’s, often criticized for its salty, overly processed food, actually has one of the healthiest cheeseburgers.
This is evident from research by researchers who analyzed and compared the nutritional value of cheeseburgers at 24 fast food chains in the US. their calories, sugar, fat and sodium content.
Based on this data, each citizen was given a ‘health score’.
Researchers have ranked the unhealthiest burgers at American fast food chains based on fat, sodium, calories and sugar
Five Guys’ classic cheeseburger was named the least healthy burger with an unhealthy score of 50.
This was determined primarily by looking at the burger’s saturated fat, which raises cholesterol and can lead to heart disease. It contained 73 percent more saturated fat than any other cheeseburger on the list, and it was packed with half a day’s worth of calories.
The Virginia-based chain also took first place for the unhealthiest fries, with a total of 28 points, largely due to the high calorie and sodium content of the regular order.
Meanwhile, McDonald’s surprisingly tied with Burger King for second place as the healthiest burger, with the burger containing a third of the calories and sodium of Five Guys’ cheeseburger.
The two were narrowly beaten out by Culver’s Butterburger, which received an unhealthy score of 17 for its low saturated fat content and only half the calories of Five Guys’ choice.
The researchers wrote: ‘Ultimately, healthy eating comes down to taking control of what you eat.
“That could mean avoiding fast food altogether, or it could be as simple as making an informed decision about which fast food chains to visit and which products to choose.”
The researchers evaluated cheeseburgers, fries, chicken sandwiches and nuggets from 24 US supermarket chains and gave them a score based on the UK Department of Health’s nutrient profiling method.
This classifies foods based on the nutrients they contain that can cause chronic disease. These include saturated fat, sugar, calories and sodium.
For example, saturated fat and sodium are consistently linked to heart disease, obesity and high cholesterol.
The Five Guys cheeseburger was considered the least healthy, with 55 grams of fat, 73 percent more than any other option on the list.
Additionally, it contains 1,050 milligrams of sodium, nearly half of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s recommended daily intake of 2,300 milligrams.
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Too much sodium can lead to high blood pressure, which weakens the blood vessels around the heart and other vital organs, such as the brain. This can lead to heart attacks and strokes.
It also adds up to 980 calories, half the daily recommended limit for most Americans. And that’s without the fries.
However, the chain also offers a “small” cheeseburger with 610 calories.
Whataburger’s Jalapeno and Cheese and Smash Burger’s Classic Smash followed closely behind, both scoring a 42 on the unhealthy scale. Both choices had the highest scores for sodium, at 1,800 and 1,630 milligrams, respectively.
Carl’s Jr’s Famous Star With Cheese and Sonic’s Cheeseburger rounded out the top five with 37 and 36 points respectively.
Although McDonald’s is often criticized for its poor nutritional value, the McDonald’s cheeseburger was considered the second healthiest, along with Burger King.
Culver’s Butterburger was the healthiest burger, scoring a 17.
A single, one-burger serving, contains just 460 calories, less than half of the Five Guys selection. It also contains just 11 grams of saturated fat and 610 milligrams of sodium.
And despite McDonald’s long being vilified for its unhealthy credentials, it shares second place with Burger King on the list of healthiest cheeseburgers.
At 18 points, a McDonald’s cheeseburger has just 300 calories, a third of a Five Guys, and six grams of saturated fat. It also contains 720 milligrams of sodium, about a third of the recommended daily amount.
McDonald’s also had the healthiest chicken sandwich and chicken nuggets, which scored 14 and 18, respectively.
Burger King’s version, on the other hand, contains only 290 calories, six grams of saturated fat and 780 milligrams of sodium.