Most fast-food meals – even kids' meals – have more fat, sugar, and sodium than children need, and eating this kind of unhealthy food can have negative health consequences over time.
A single fast-food meal could add extra kilo calories of 1 649 and 1 530, to boys and girls aged seven respectively.
Researchers at Chewsy looked at nutritional information from McDonald's, KFC, and Burger King. Specifically, they focused on calories, fat, salt, and sugars.
The average calories, fat, salt, and sugars were found by adding the meals, sides, and drinks together and diving the total by the number of items offered.
This led experts at Chewsy to compare three of the leading fast-food chains (KFC, McDonald’s, and Burger King) to see which meals are the most calorific for children.
Chewsy collected the data by analysing the nutritional information provided by each fast-food chain on their website and averaging the sugar, salt, calorie, and fat intake per main meal option, as well as sides and drinks where provided.
McDonald’s has the highest average calories at 381.71 KCALs for all kids’ main meals considered.
KFC has the highest sugar content (20.3 grams), across all three fast-food chains, the equivalent of five teaspoons of sugar which exceeds the daily amount of sugar for 4 to 6-year olds (19 grams). KFC is also the highest for salt content.
Burger King is not only crowned the least calorific but also contains the least amount of sugar and salt.
With a variety of meals, sides, and drink options to choose from, McDonald’s knocks KFC off the top with a calorie average per ‘Happy Meal’ of 381.71 KCALs.
Falling 5.04 KCALs behind McDonald’s, the nation’s finger-licking favourite, KFC reaches 376.67 KCALS per serving.
Burger King, however, has the lowest average calories for all main meals considered, as their children’s meal average is only 269.08 KCALs per serving.
Across all three fast-food chains, out of children aged 7-10, girls and boys aged seven have the highest daily calorie intake. The daily calorie intake for boys and girls aged seven is 1 649 and 1 530, respectively.
The highest of that average is McDonald’s with 23.14 percent for boys and 24.94 percent for girls. Following closely behind is KFC with 22.84 percent for boys and 24.61 percent for girls. Burger King sits at just 16.31 percent for boys and 17.58 percent for girls.
When it came to fat, the study showed that McDonald has the highest fat content, with 13 grams of fat per serving.
With sugar intake, Chewsy found that out of the three selected fast-food chains, KFC exceeds (20.3 grams) the daily sugar intake of children between the ages of four and six (19 grams) by 6.8 percent. KFC also comes close to exceeding the daily intake for children between seven and 10 (24 grams).
Not only is KFC holding the title for the highest sugar content, but they also hold the highest salt average (1.37 grams). KFC’s average meal constitutes 45.7 percent and 27.4 percent of the daily average of salt for 4 to 6-years olds (3 grams) and 7 to 10-year olds (5 grams), respectively.