How do McDonald's meals compare to other forms of Fast Food?

Question

We always here about "health" advisors etc banging on about the excess calorie/fat whatever content of McDonald's meals.. but how do they compare against pizza, fish 'n chips, the curry takeway, the chinese take away, kebabs.. whatever else you can find on the high street that has a take away/delivery service?

Answer 1

A survey was done in Northern Ireland in 2004. The nutritional content of 100g of different products sold by fast food restaurants was analysed and the results can be found at table 3 of the report.

A brief comparison very quickly summarised from this (per 100g):
Big Mac Meal - 13g fat, 26g carbohydrates, dietary fibre 1g, salt 0.7g, energy 1000kj
Pizza -10g fat, 23g carbohydrates, dietary fibre 1.8g, salt 1.5g energy 1000kj
Fish and Chips -13g fat, 21g carbs, 1.7g fibre, 0.5g salt, energy 1000kj
Chicken curry and fried rice - 6g fat, 15g carbs, 0.5 g fibre, 1.3 g salt, energy 576kj
Sweet and Sour chicken - 9g fat, 27g carbs, 0.5g fibre, .0.4g salt, energy 900kj

From the above it would seem the chicken curry is the healthiest and the kebab the worst.
Donner Kebab - 20.3g fat, 18.4g carbs, 0.2g fibre, 1.6g salt, energy 1300kj.

The above are just approximations taken from the table and the figures do vary between restaurants. The curries and Chinese meals probably vary more due to the larger variety of dishes.

Answer 2

Sad as it maybe Mcdonalds has to be one of the worst fast food joints. Arbys is probably one of the best. Its food is general not soaking in grease. They also offfer many sandwiches and salads as an alternative. Mcdonalds has salads too but the health contect of a Mcdonalds salads is still shockingly bad for you. Even taco bell is a much healthier, choice espcially if you avoid groud beef. Most fast food isnt going to be good for you, however pretty much anything beats Mcdonalds. Even local pizza places. Depending on what sort of toppings you get and if you reframe from using the little tub of garlic butter a pizza can be a relativly nutrcious meal. If a pizza place is a home town place and not a big chain it is more likely they use brick ovens instead of convier belts and use fresh vegitable and make their own crusts instead of getting it all shipped in pre proccessed dices and read to be slapped in the oven. They often taste healthier. Though they may not have that greasy layer over the top of them they are still rather enjoyable.

Answer 3

the main reason mcdonalds is so bad is because of the oil they use to cook their foods. they use partially hydrogenated oil which causes the food to have lots of saturated and trans fat....bad! there was some study done that showed the mcdonalds in some other countries such as those in europe/asia were much, much healthier than the mcdonalds in the US simply because they stopped using partially hydrogenated oil.

Answer 4

the others you mentioned are for the most part good food cooked badly-which gives them a little redemption i suppose-mcdonalds on the other hand is bad food cooked badly and they set themselves up for the criticism that they get becuase they always lie to us about how good it is-when it isnt!!!theyre also the biggest so i suppose they get targeted more-it may not last-from what ive seen the new public enemy is kfc-what would the colonel say???

Answer 5

I don't know, but McDonalds always makes me feel sick, I can't explain it, they taste so nice, and yet I want to puke up after having a quarter pounder.

I think most fast food restaurants, like a chippy, use fresh food. Maccy d's obviously make their burgers in south america and ship them over.

Answer 6

i hate fast food of all kinds and will avoid it at all costs.
last time i went in maccy d's i was fiddling twith the annoying sheet that ciomes on the tray and i turned it over to find a table that tells you how many calories are in their meals and i was so disgusted- a big mac meal with large fries n coke is over 1000 cals- that half your daily allowance in one meal i find that hard to take in and i haven't been back since!

Answer 7

mcdonalds is rubbish because you are hungary again after about an hour . kfc is the best .

Answer 8

mcdonalds sucks

Answer 9

NO FAST FOOD PLEEEEASE

Answer 10

KFC is the best!!!!