Fast Food Restaurant Nutrition Comparison: French Fries
If you are like me, you eat at fast food restaurants for the convenience. I have eaten at these establishments probably a lot more times than I should have. It has always been assumed that fast food was not good for your health. Are all of the items on the menu bad for you? Is there any difference between the fast food restaurants? Let’s take a look at some of their items and see what the facts are.
I went straight to several fast food chains and obtained the nutrition facts on the food they serve. Today I will compare the French fries. I made the chart below comparing the nutrition facts of small fries at 9 different chains.
- Arby’s – small homestyle fries – calories: 350 – total fat: 15g – saturated fat: 2g – sodium: 720mg
- Burger King – small fries – calories: 340 – total fat: 17g – saturated fat: 3.5g – sodium: 590mg
- Carl’s Jr – small fries – calories: 320 – total fat: 15g – saturated fat: 3g – sodium: 830mg
- Dairy Queen – regular fries – calories: 310 – total fat: 13g – saturated fat: 2g – sodium: 640mg
- Jack In The Box – small fries – calories: 294 – total fat: 15g – saturated fat: 4g – sodium: 710mg
- McDonalds – small fries – calories: 230 – total fat: 11g – saturated fat: 1.5g – sodium: 160mg
- Sonic – small fries – calories: 204 – total fat: 8.2g – saturated fat: 1.7g – sodium: 273mg
- Wendys – small fries – calories: 330 – total fat: 16g – saturated fat: 3g – sodium: 300mg
- Whataburger – small fries – calories: 260 – total fat: 13g – saturated fat: 3.5g – sodium: 199mg
In order to make it fair I compared the small size only. Dairy Queen calls its small size the “regular fries” and I used Arby’s homestyle fries for the comparison.
Sonic had the fewest calories for its small French fries with McDonalds coming in second. Arby’s had the most total calories.
The lowest total fat award goes to Sonic with McDonalds taking second place. Burger King had the highest total fat.
McDonalds had the least amount of saturated fat with sonic a close second. Jack In The Box had the highest amount.
McDonalds had the lowest amount of Sodium in their French fries with Whataburger second. Carl’s Jr had the highest amount with a whopping 830mg.
Which chain’s French fries has the best nutrition values? Although I wouldn’t refer to any of them as healthy, McDonalds and Sonic are neck and neck for first place. Whataburger comes home in third place. Next time I will compare another item of the menu and see what the real facts turn out to be.
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