McDonald’s Fries are even worse for you than previously thought
Not that you should be eating a lot of them to start with, but today McDonald’s announced that a new, more accurate method of testing shows that their world famous french fries contain one third more trans fats than previously believed.
McDonald’s and other US fast food restaurant chains have been under pressure to improve disclosure of nutrition content for their products, with some limited results. McDonald’s is updating their packaging and in-store literature. US dietary guidelines call for consumers to keep their intake of trans fats as low as possible. Trans fats have been shown to raise levels of harmful cholesterol, contributing to heart disease. New government rules require packaged foods to include information about trans fat content along with other nutrition information.
McDonald’s french fries in US stores are cooked by deep frying in oil. Trans fats are associated with the use of partially hydrogenated oil instead of vegetable oil. A portion of large fries is now measured at 8 grams of trans fat (up from 6 grams), and total fat is 30 grams (up from 25). Aside from the issue of trans fat, french fries simply contain a lot of fat, and consuming a lot of them corresponds to a large intake of calories which may not be needed.
Michael Jacobson of the Center for Science in the Public Interest observes:
“Nutritionally it’s a disastrous product,” Jacobson said of the fries. “McDonald’s could fry in canola oil or other liquid oil” as it does in Australia, Denmark and Israel, he said.
A few french fries in moderation won’t harm you or your diet, but unfortunately it’s easy to consume more than intended.
Links:
- McDonald’s reveals high trans fat levels in fries, MSNBC / Financial Times, February 8, 2006
- McDonald’s Says Fries have More Trans Fats, ABC News, February 8, 2006
May 8th, 2006 at 6:51 am
Wow, who would have thought McDonald’s food could be even worse for us than what we already thought? Seriously though, the problem is most people who eat fast food simply don’t care about their health; otherwise why would they be going to those places in the first place?