Americans spend millions of dollars a year eating and drinking at fast-food establishments. The biggest chain in terms of sales is McDonald’s, where people spent more than $36 billion in 2016, followed by Starbucks with nearly $15 billion, and Subway with $11 billion.
These numbers are not surprising, considering that almost 40 percent of people in the United States eat at a fast-food restaurant at least once a day. And adults between 20 and 39 years old are most likely to choose junk food over other options.
Perhaps it’s no surprise also that the biggest health issues in the country include obesity, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, all of which are associated with foods that are high in calories, fat, salt and sugar.
So why is fast food so popular? It’s cheap, readily available everywhere, filling and you don’t have to wait long for it.
Many of the least-healthy items on fast-food menus contain nearly the entire daily recommended intake of calories, sodium and sugar. The estimated daily calorie needed for moderately active adult men is 2,800 and 2,200 for women. The recommended daily limit for salt is 2,300 mg (ideally 1,500 mg), and that of sugar is 25 grams (six teaspoons) for women and 38 grams (nine teaspoons) for men, according to the American Heart Association.
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To identify the unhealthiest food at every major fast-food chain in the United States, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the nutritional contents of every item on their menus. To compare each item, we created an index of calories, fat, cholesterol, salt and sugar. Foods with a lot of calories, sodium, sugar and fat relative to other items offered by the same restaurant received worse scores. Only food items intended for single individuals were considered.
See the gallery above to discover the unhealthiest item on each menu.
24/7 Wall Street is a USA TODAY content partner offering financial news and commentary. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.
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