Burgers are cooked in front of you and packed with toppings, but Five Guys’ classic cheeseburger is the unhealthiest burger in America.
And McDonald’s, often criticized for its salty, overly processed food, actually had one of the healthiest cheeseburgers around.
This is according to researchers who analyzed the nutritional value of cheeseburgers at 24 American fast food chains, comparing them its calorie, sugar, fat and sodium content.
Based on these metrics, each burger was assigned an “unhealthiness score.”
Five Guys’ classic cheeseburger was crowned the unhealthiest burger with an unhealthiness score of 50.
Researchers ranked the unhealthiest burgers from U.S. fast-food chains based on fat, sodium, calories and sugar.
Five Guys had the unhealthiest burger in America, PlushCare researchers found
This was determined primarily by looking at the burger’s saturated fat, which raises cholesterol and can lead to heart disease. It had 73 percent more saturated fat than any other cheeseburger on the list and contained half a day’s worth of calories.
The Virginia-based chain also took the top spot for unhealthiest fries, scoring 28 points, largely because of the high calories and sodium in the regular order.
Meanwhile, McDonald’s surprisingly tied with Burger King for the second-healthiest burger, having a third of the calories and sodium of Five Guys’ cheeseburger.
The two were narrowly edged out by Culver’s Butterburger, which earned an unhealthiness score of 17 due to its low saturated fat content as it has only half the calories of Five Guys’ choice.
The researchers wrote: ‘Ultimately, healthy eating comes down to taking control of what we eat.
‘That may mean avoiding fast food altogether, but it can be as simple as making an informed decision about which fast food chains to visit and which of their products to choose.’
Researchers evaluated cheeseburgers, fries, chicken sandwiches and nuggets from 24 US fast food chains and rated them using the UK Department of Health’s nutrient profiling method.
Here, foods are ranked by nutrients linked to chronic disease, including saturated fat, sugar, calories and sodium.
For example, saturated fat and sodium have been consistently linked to heart disease, obesity, and high cholesterol.
Five Guys’ cheeseburger was deemed the least healthy, with 55 grams of fat, 73 percent more than any other option on the list.
Plus, it has 1,050 milligrams of sodium, almost half of the USDA’s recommended daily limit of 2,300 milligrams.
Excessive sodium consumption can lead to high blood pressure, which weakens blood vessels around the heart and other vital organs like the brain, leading to heart attacks and strokes.
Plus, it clocks in at 980 calories, half the recommended daily limit for most Americans — and that’s not counting the accompanying fries.
However, the chain also offers a “small” cheeseburger with 610 calories.
Next up were Whataburger’s Jalapeno and Cheese and Smash Burger’s Classic Smash, both scoring 42 on the unhealthiness scale. Both items scored highest for sodium, at 1,800 and 1,630 milligrams, respectively.
Carl’s Jr.’s Famous Star With Cheese and Sonic’s cheeseburger rounded out the top five, with scores of 37 and 36, respectively.
Although McDonald’s is often criticized for poor nutrition, its cheeseburger was rated the second healthiest, tied with Burger King’s.
Meanwhile, Culver’s Butterburger was the healthiest burger, scoring 17.
An individual burger has just 460 calories, less than half of the Five Guys option. It also has just 11 grams of saturated fat and 610 milligrams of sodium.
And despite having long been vilified for being unhealthy, McDonald’s tied with Burger King for second place as the healthiest cheeseburger.
At 18 points, a McDonald’s cheeseburger has just 300 calories — a third of Five Guys’ — and six grams of saturated fat. It also has 720 milligrams of sodium, about a third of the recommended daily value.
McDonald’s also had the healthiest chicken sandwich and chicken nuggets, which scored 14 and 18, respectively.
Burger King’s option, meanwhile, has just 290 calories, six grams of saturated fat and 780 milligrams of sodium.