Fast Food Restaurant Nutrition Comparison: Hamburgers

Fast Food Restaurant Nutrition Comparison: Hamburgers

Everyone knows that hamburgers are not very healthy for you. There can be quite a disparity between the nutrition values of the items sold at fast food restaurants. I have made a comparison of the hamburgers at some well known establishments.

This is the second article on my series on fast food nutrition. I went straight to several chains and obtained the nutrition facts on the food they serve. Today I will compare Hamburgers. The chart below compares the nutrition of the popular burgers at 8 different chains.

Burger King – whopper – |calories 670| total fat 40g | saturated fat 11g | sodium 1020mg

Carl’s Jr – big hamburger – | calories 460 | total fat 17g | saturated fat 8g | sodium 1090mg

Dairy Queen – classic grillburger – | calories 470 | total fat 21g | saturated fat 8g | sodium 950mg

Jack In The Box – jumbo jack – | calories 578 | total fat 33g | saturated fat 12g | sodium 916mg

McDonalds – big mac – | calories 540 | total fat 29g | saturated fat 10g | sodium 1040mg

Sonic – sonic burger – | calories 552 | total fat 26.1g | saturated fat 8.8g | sodium 666mg

Wendys – single – | calories 470 | total fat 21g | saturated fat 8g | sodium 940mg

Whataburger – whatburger| calories 620 | total fat 30g | saturated fat 10g | sodium 1262mg

It is difficult to compare the burgers at each restaurant because the serving sizes are different. I took the most famous burger or something comparable to try and make it even. Carl’s Jr big hamburger had the lowest amount of calories with Dairy queen and Wendys tied for second.

The total fat category saw Carl’s Jr in front with Dairy Queen and Wendys tied for second again.

The statistics for saturated fat saw quite a logjam at the top. Carl’s Jr, Dairy Queen, and Wendys were all tied for first with 8g. Sonic was close behind at 8.8g.

The sodium department saw Sonic win by a large margin. Jack In The box came in at a distant second.

The overall winner was a tough one to call as Carl’s Jr, Dairy Queen, and Wendys all scored well.  Whataburger seemed to score low on almost every category.  Next time I will examine the desserts.

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