Which Fast Food Brand Has The Unhealthiest Food For Kids?

By Mayukh Saha / Truth Theory

We can hardly keep kids away from fast food. Even adults have a tough time staying away from it, so it is natural that it is even more difficult to prevent kids from consuming fast food. Moreover, in today’s busy world fast foods are easy meals for parents who are too busy with their work to have time to cook proper meals regularly. However, these quick and tasty meals are very unhealthy for the human body.

In the United Kingdom, 40.3% of grade 6 children have been found to be obese. The National Child Measurement Programme published the data under their National Statistics for the year 2019. The data also helped a study measuring which fast-food brand has the unhealthiest food for kids among Burger King, McDonald’s, and KFC.

The study of the fast-food brands, however, did not take into any chemicals or other artificial additives. The study was conducted by Chewsygum.com experts, and they only took into account the calorie count of the meals at these major fast-food brands.

Read: 5 Reasons Why You Should Never Ever Eat At McDonald’s

The data was collected from the information about nutrients that each fast-food chain’s website provided. The study then averaged the fat, calorie, salt, and sugar intake per main course meal. It also took into drinks and sides when the information was available.

Calories

When sheer calories are taken into consideration, McDonald’s sits at the top. Their range of drinks, sides and meal options made a “Happy Meal” average 381.71 KCALs.

KFC was the second highest with an average of 376.67 KCALs in every serving. Burger King was found to average the least amount of calories – just 269.08 KCALs.

Fat

Fat content-wise as well, McDonald’s took the top spot with an average of 13gms of fat in every serving. KFC came in second place with an average of 11.43gms per serving.

Burger King was the lowest in this category as well, averaging only 98.3gms per serving.

Sugar

This time around there was a change in the rankings with KFC taking the top spot – averaging 20.3gms per serving which is more than the average daily sugar intake of children between 4 and 6. McDonald’s averaged 17.39gms, which is about 4 teaspoons worth of sugar per every “Happy meal”.

Burger King, however, maintained its comparatively healthy statistics, recording only 10.92gms of sugar per main meal serving.

Salt

This is another category where KFC scored the highest with an average of 1.37gms of salt per serving. Bear in mind that the daily average salt intake for children between 4 and 6 years olds is 3gms. McDonald’s is not far behind, recording an average of 1.29gms per serving.

Burger King, once more, averaged the least – 1gm of salt per serving.

There Are Even More Unhealthy Content In Fast Food

Apart from the excessive nutritional content, a recent George Washington University study has shown that 80% of fast food contains dangerous chemicals. The chemical in question is phthalates – tiny particles of plastic. They are known to cause adverse health problems such as affecting hormone secreting-glands. They are also known to cause infertility issues.

Read: ‘Dangerous’ Chemicals Found In 80% Of Food From McDonald’s, Burger King, Pizza Hut, And Domino’s 

So, just because Burger King ranked the least among the three in the study does not mean the meals there are any better in the long run. They contain just as many phthalates as in food from any other fast-food chain, as shown in the study.

Credits: ChewsyGum