The Healthiest Fast-Food Burger

Recently I did some analysis of the nutritional content of McDonald's burgers compared with those from various other "roadhouse"-type restaurants. I found that a Big Mac and large fries at McDonald's is lower in calories, fat, carbs, and sodium than any of the other restaurants I looked at. Now, let's look at just the fast food restaurants.

Here is the nutritional information that I used:

• McDonald's
• Burger King
• Harvey's
• Wendy's
• A & W

Note to Facebook readers: Facebook sometimes screws up the formatting of tables when it imports my articles. You may want to click the "View Original Post" button at the bottom of the article.

Here are the results:

Burgers

Restaurant	Item	Calories	Total fat (g)	Saturated Fat (g)	Carbs (g)	Sodium (mg)
McDonalds	Big Mac	540	29	10	44	1020
McDonalds	Quarter Pounder w/ Cheese	530	28	13	41	1110
Burger King	Whopper w/ Cheese	760	47	16	49	1320
Harvey's	Original Cheeseburger	460	35	11	39	1130
Wendy's	1/4 pound single	470	22	7	70	870
A & W	Teen burger	500	26	11	41	1220

I don't go to A&W often enough to know which burger to choose (Teen, Mama, Papa, Grandpa), so I chose the Teen Burger because the numbers seemed similar to the others. The BK Whopper was dead last in every category. Harvey's had the least calories but lots of fat and sodium. Wendy's only had 10 more calories than Harvey's, had way less fat and sodium, but way more carbs.

Chicken Sandwich

Restaurant	Item	Calories	Total fat (g)	Saturated Fat (g)	Carbs (g)	Sodium (mg)
McDonalds	McChicken	470	27	4.5	46	790
McDonalds	Grilled Chicken Classic	390	11	1.5	46	810
Burger King	Tendergrill	370	16	2.5	37	910
Harvey's	Grilled chicken	290	5	1.5	28	810
Wendy's	Ultimate chicken grill	360	7	1.5	42	1090
A & W	Chicken Grill Deluxe	320	9	1.5	37	1040

Harvey's is the best in each category except saturated fat, but all the grilled sandwiches are relatively similar in all categories. The McChicken (which is fried) is last in every category except sodium where it's the best. McChicken has more than five times the fat of the Harvey's grilled sandwich – this should not surprise anyone.

Fries

Restaurant	Item	Calories	Total fat (g)	Saturated Fat (g)	Carbs (g)	Sodium (mg)
McDonalds	Large	560	27	3.5	74	430
Burger King	Large	440	22	4.5	57	1000
Harvey's	Large	410	16	1	61	1190
Wendy's	Large	500	24	4.5	54	610
A & W	Large	520	22	1.5	76	920

McDonald's is last in calories and fat, and up near the top in carbs, but is way ahead in sodium. I found this strange considering the reason I like McD's fries is that they seem especially salty. Harvey's, on the other hand, is first in calories and fat, but last in sodium.

Overall Results

You can "have it your way" at Burger King if "your way" includes more calories, fat, and sodium than anywhere else. There's no clear winner here, but Harvey's and Wendy's are the lowest in most categories. If I had to pick one winner, it'd have to be Wendy's – it's a little higher than Harvey's in calories and carbs, a little lower in fat, but 36% lower in sodium.

Notable stats for the burger and fries combo:

• Lowest calories: Harvey's. Second: Wendy's. Highest: Burger King.
• Lowest fat: Wendy's. Second: A&W. Highest: Burger King.
• Lowest saturated fat: Wendy's. Second: Harvey's. Highest: Burger King.
• Lowest carbs: Harvey's. Second: Burger King. Highest: Wendy's.
• Lowest sodium: Big Mac. Second: Wendy's. Highest: Burger King / Harvey's.

The shocking conclusion: Having a grilled chicken sandwich instead of a burger and skipping the fries results in a healthier meal. But if you simply must have a fast food burger, opting for Wendy's or Harvey's is a little healthier than McDonald's or A & W, and a lot better than Burger King.