McDonalds nutrition – Thriving on fast food
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People got stunned when watching the film “Supersize me” a few years ago. The subject, Morgan Spurlow, dined at McDonald’s restaurants three times a day and we could watch him get in worse and worse shape by each day.
But is McDonalds nutrition such a bad thing? Can you find find healthy food choices at McDonald’s too?
I wanted to put the food to the test by looking at the protein index, which is an indicator of high protein density. You might find it pretty silly to only compare protein content, but when I know that hamburger bread, french fries, ketchup and other servings usually contains much fat and/or high GI carbohydrates I like to compare what is good for you and what is also comparable. I thus focus on high protein sources.
Here is a list of the highest ranking sources of protein at McDonalds, protein index is in paranthesis:
- Premium Ceasar Salad with Grilled Chicken (5.2)
- Premium Bacon Ranch Salad with Grilled Chicken (5.2)
- Premium Grilled Chicken Club Sandwich (4.9)
- Premium Grilled Chicken Ranch BLT Sandwich (4.7)
- Double Quarter Pounder with cheese (4.5)
- Premium Grilled Chicken Classic Sandwich (4.3)
- Chicken Selects Premium Breast Strips (3.9)
- Southern Style Crispy Chicken Sandwich (3.5)
- Double Cheeseburger (3.4)
- Quarter Pounder with Cheese, Quarter Pounder, McDouble (3.3)
When you compare this list with other foods you see that they are OK sources of protein. This is not strange since pure chicken or beef meat is a good source of protein. They highest scores are ranked at levels of tenderloin (4.6) and minced pork meat (4.6). Just remember to avoid the crispy salad variants, the extra ketchup, the soda, the dressings, the french fries and decide whether the hamburger bread is worth keeping. Then you are good to go.
Source: http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/nutritionexchange/nutritionfacts.pdf
2 Responses to “McDonalds nutrition – Thriving on fast food”
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June 16th, 2009 at 8:09 am
Nice article – How do you calculate the protein index?
June 16th, 2009 at 8:29 am
You can find the protein index by dividing the protein energy on the total energy of the food (Calories_protein/Calories_total). Proteins and carbohydrates have about 4 kcal/g energy density and fat 9 kcal/g. If you have 30 g protein, 20 g carbohydrates and 5 g fat per 100 g you get protein index=(30*4)/(30*4+20*4+5*9)=0.49. Does it make sense?