McDonald’s is a favorite place to be for many families. However, the usage of excessive sodium, fatty acids, and sugar makes McDonald’s meals quite unhealthy.
But what does that mean? What is in McDonald’s meals? How can it affect your health? Are there healthier options for kids?
In today’s article, we’re going to talk about the important facts and statistics about McDonald’s meals and their effect on your body and health.
Top 5 McDonald’s Unhealthy Statistics (Editor’s Pick)
- McDonald’s sells 270,000 burgers per hour.
- The average meal at McDonald’s has 1,500 calories.
- Double cheeseburger has more than 2,500 mg of sodium.
- Meals have 3 times more fats than recommended.
- Selling Happy Meal has a daily revenue of $10 million.
16 McDonald’s Unhealthy Statistics
1. There are over 37,000 McDonald’s restaurants in the world.
McDonald’s is one of the biggest fast-food franchised chains in the world and it has over 37,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries and on 6 continents. It is well-spread and definitely the most most popular fast-food meal option. He alone had annual revenue of over $22 billion in 2021.
Source: Budget Branders and Companies Marketcap
2. McDonald’s sells 75 burners per second.
Despite the fact that we’re talking about unhealthy meal options, McDonald’s popularity hasn’t decreased even the slightest. We’re talking about selling 4,500 burgers per minute and 270,000 per hour. Those are huge numbers in the fast-food industry which leads to an unhealthy and poor diet. Besides, thanks to the McDonald’s kiosks, there is a 6% increase in the sells.
Source: Mashed
3. The restaurants sell food to more than 46 million people daily.
According to the study made by Brandon Gaille, McDonald’s has huge traffic on a daily basis. Millions of people are consuming McDonald’s food and meals, and such a bad habit could have severe damages to their health, lead to diabetes, obesity, and heart diseases.
Source: Brandon Gaille
4. An average meal at McDonald’s has 1,500 calories.
This is a huge amount of calories per meal. But not only that, 1,500 calories is the amount that is a recommended daily caloric intake for some people. Now imagine getting such an amount of calories in only one meal. What’s with other meals of the day that are yet to follow? Such actions are the main reason for obesity and overweight problems.
Source: Brandon Gaille
5. McDonald’s meals have way too much animal protein.
The recommended serving size of animal protein should be up to 3 ounces. In the study made by Brandon Gaille, in an average McDonald’s serving, there is 5 times more amount of animal protein than is recommended.
Source: Brandon Gaille
6. Double cheeseburger has over 2,500 mg of sodium.
A classic double cheeseburger is many people’s favorite McDonald’s meal. However, with its 2,500 mg of sodium, it definitely isn’t the healthiest choice. The recommended amount of sodium for one adult per day is 1000 mg. Too much sodium consumption leads to kidney diseases.
Source: Blasting News
7. McDonald’s meals have 3 times more fats than recommended.
Fats are the usual ingredients that can be found in every fast food meal. However, the recommended intake of fats for an adult per day is 60 g. According to the study by Blasting News, no food at McDonald’s has lesser than 200 g of fats. That’s shocking!
Source: Blasting News
8. Big Mac has 540 calories and 34 g of fat.
The Big Mac is surely one of the most popular meal choices in Mcdonald’s. It is known and consumed worldwide, and it even has its own museum. Despite its popularity, it definitely isn’t the healthiest meal option. Especially if it’s a part of a menu. With fries and a drink, a Big Mac menu has over 1000 calories.
Source: Brandon Gaille
9. A medium fries have 380 calories and 19 g of fat.
Speaking of a menu, medium fries have a high amount of calories and fats. And it is never consumed alone at McDonald’s. As we already mentioned, such a menu has over 1000 calories and definitely too many fats. And we’re only talking about a combination of classic hamburger, drink, and medium fries. Imagine other combos you can get.
Source: Brandon Gaille
10. The Big breakfast with hotcakes has 1,150 calories.
McDonald’s has many meals that are too high in calories and fats, but this one has the highest amounts of them all. 20 piece McNuggets follows with 890 calories, Grand Mac with 860 calories, Large Shamrock Shake is in fourth place with 820 calories, while the large McCafé chocolate chip Frappé has 750 calories.
Source: Insider and Spoon University
11. Healthy smoothie has 350 calories, the same as a grilled chicken sandwich.
Smoothies truly do sound like a nice healthy liquid snack. Well, not in McDonald’s. Their 22-ounce mango pineapple smoothie has actually the same amount of calories as the grilled chicken sandwich. So remember, just because something sounds healthy at Mcdonald’s, it doesn’t mean that it actually is.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
12. McDonald’s distributes more toys per year than Toys “R” Us.
Happy Meals are amongst the most popular McDonald’s orders. The sales of these meals generate around $10 million a day. A toy is enticing to the children, however, the meal itself contains a week’s worth of salt.
Source: Brandon Gaille
13. Childrens’ meals have 866 to 1100 mg of sodium.
Speaking of children’s food options, McDonald’s meals are particularly high in sodium. Kids can have up to 1500 mg of sodium per day. McDonald’s offers up to 1100 mg per meal! Consuming more than the recommended amount of sodium can result in elevated blood pressure which then increases the risk of many other health problems.
Source: SQ Online
14. One in three children born this year in the U.S. will develop diabetes in their lifetime.
The US is known for high fast-food consumption on a daily basis. Due to that, there is a higher risk of developing diabetes. Besides, kids and adults who consume such food regularly have a higher risk to develop various serious health problems such as heart diseases, obesity, and depression.
Source: HuffPost
15. Only 1.4% of families buy healthier McDonald’s options.
McDonald’s does offer healthier meal options. The SQ Online made research in the local McDonald’s. For example, the fruit and yogurt parfait, a heart-friendly food option, is quite an unpopular order and only 1.4% of families bought it for a meal.
Source: SQ Online
16. You can get 20 pounds per month by eating at McDonald’s.
According to the study made by Brandon Gaille, it is possible to gain 20 pounds in a month by eating at McDonald’s. And Americans are more likely to confirm that fact because 60% of them get less than 15 minutes of exercise per day and yet, they still eat junk food regularly.
Source: Brandon Gaille
To Wrap It Up
McDonald’s may be everyone’s favorite, however, when it comes to your body and health, it can definitely be considered as the enemy. McDonald’s has a massive annual revenue and it has a big part in the American and global fast-food industry, but due to its bad influence on health, consumption should definitely be as minimized as possible.
