Fast-Food Fries, Chicken Fattier in U.S. By LINDA A. JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer

Order french fries or hot wings at a McDonald's or a KFC in the United States and you're more likely to get a super-sized helping of artery-clogging trans fats than you would be at their restaurants in some other countries.

A study of the fast-food chains' products around the world found remarkably wide variations in trans fat content from country to country, from city to city within the same nation, and from restaurant to restaurant in the same city.

The researchers said the differences had to do with the type of frying oil used, and the main culprit appeared to be partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, which is high in trans fats.

"I was very surprised to see a difference in trans fatty acids in these uniform products," said one of the researchers, Dr. Steen Stender, a cardiologist at Gentofte University Hospital in Hellerup, Denmark, and former head of the Danish Nutrition Council. "It's such an easy risk factor to remove."

McDonald's Corp., which promised in September 2002 to cut trans fat in half, and KFC parent Yum! Brands Inc. said the explanation is local taste preferences. But nutrition experts and consumer activists said it is about money: Frying oil high in trans fats costs less.

The Danish researchers tested products from the chains' outlets in dozens of countries in 2004 and 2005, analyzing McDonald's chicken nuggets, KFC hot wings, and the two chains' fried potatoes. The findings were reported in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

At a New York City McDonald's, a large fries-and-chicken-nuggets combo was found to contain 10.2 grams of the trans fat, compared with 0.33 grams in Denmark and about 3 grams in Spain, Russia and the Czech Republic.

At KFCs in Poland and Hungary, a large hot wings-and-fries order had 19 grams of trans fats or more, versus 5.5 grams for wings and fried potato wedges in New York. But in Germany, Russia, Denmark and Aberdeen, Scotland, the same meal had less than a gram.

A large order of french fries at a New York City McDonald's contained 30 percent more trans fat than the same order from an Atlanta McDonald's.

Partially hydrogenated vegetable oil is cooking oil that has been injected with hydrogen to harden it and give it a longer shelf life. Switching to liquid vegetable oils such as canola, corn, olive or soy eliminates the trans fat, as has been done in Denmark under a 2004 law allowing only a minuscule amount of trans fat in foods.

Trans fat raises bad cholesterol and lowers good cholesterol. Eating just 5 grams of it per day increases the risk of heart disease 25 percent, research shows.

"Per gram, it is more harmful than any other kind of fat," Stender said. "It's a metabolic poison."

McDonald's said it "continues to work diligently on ways to reduce" trans fat in its fries. It said that most of its oils come from local suppliers, based on consumer preference, and that the oil used in the United States is different from that in Europe and elsewhere.

Stender and other experts said many restaurants still use partially hydrogenated vegetable oil to save money because it does not spoil and can be used over and over for frying.

Michael F. Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said his group has petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to drastically limit the use of trans fats and require restaurant menus to note foods containing trans fat. He said FDA is still reviewing the petitions, "even though they agree it's killing thousands of people a year."

In January, the FDA began requiring package labels to list trans fat content. KFC and McDonald's both list the trans fat and other components of their foods on their Web sites and in stores, on such things as tray liners and brochures.

Jacobsen's center estimated a few years ago that trans fats prematurely killed 30,000 to 75,000 Americans a year. That number has probably fallen, he said, because many packaged-food companies have switched to healthier oils.

But many processed foods — including pies, tortilla chips, margarine and microwave popcorn — still contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oil.

Harvard School of Public Health cardiologist Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian and colleagues wrote in the journal that while it may be hard for restaurants and food manufacturers to eliminate partially hydrogenated oil, other countries have replaced it with unsaturated fats without raising costs or reducing quality.

Doing so might prevent thousands of heart attacks and strokes each year in the United States, they wrote.

Jacobsen said that the cost might be a penny per order of fries or nuggets, and that the taste difference would be minimal.

"I don't think people would mind paying a penny more or getting one less french fry to avoid heart disease," he said.

thanks for posting this. i liked this article.
i'm a sucker for french fries and all that junk, but this gives me an incentive to avoid those crappy fast food places.

and guess what.

now the european union might try and prevent denmark from having such a low trans fat ammount in fast food, because they claim its skewering the market because others cant compete or whatever.

oh yeah, think of the market instead of the population health.

same thing with nitrite (aka food make-up), we lost that one, because apparently having a market where there is no monopoly is better than actually having a living population.

i tell you one thing, maccas (Mcdonalds) is DISGUSTING in the US compared to in Australia. Here is barely tolerable, but in America, its gross. The fries are soggy and the burgers taste like shit, everything seeps fat and THE BAG ENDS UP COVERED IN OIL BY CARRYING IT. and the ice cream tastes weird.

i suppose we are spoiled by our maccas wanting to be "healthier" and cutting down on the oil and stuff. and our healthy choices menu.


& another thing. fast food in america IS NOT FAST.You always have to wait for it. thats so stupid. here, in australia you go to the counter and get your food right away. none of this take a number and wait bullshit. its fast and slightly nasty. not slow and gross.


/end rant.

WTF? Hardly. Link me to a story or source on this.

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Deux hommes font une promenade amicale. L'un des deux porte un parapluie à son bras.
Il se met à pleuvoir. L'homme n'ouvre pas son parapluie et l'autre lui demande pourquoi.
- Parce que ça ne servirait à rien, lui répond son ami. Il est plein de trous.
- Alors, pourquoi l'as-tu pris?
- Parce que je ne pensais pas qu'il pleuvrait.

The serving of large french fries at McDonalds in America is almost double that of the Australian serving. I couldn't believe it when my former workmate brought back the empty box from his trip to Las Vegas, it was so fucking huge.

McDonalds is shit in the UK, the beef patties (and fries for that matter) taste so much better here in Australia.

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C-c-c-c-c-cocaine

oh yeah. they dont have the equivalent to our small here.

our medium is a US small
our large is a US medium
and there has NEVER been an equivalent to a US large. its mammoth & the tightasses in the land of Oz would never complain about value for money.

Haha, the US large could feed an Aussie family of four.

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C-c-c-c-c-cocaine

When I went to florida i noticed that a 'large' coke is about the size of a BUCKET
Here in the UK, it's not.

mc donalds used to have supersize in uk but then supersize me came out and they stopped, bugerking however still supersize but it is no where near as big as supersize in usa, but it is still far to much food for a person to eat in one sitting.

that would be the answer

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[ o ]==#

"A junkie is someone who uses their body to tell society that something is wrong.” - Stella Adler

rotten ronnies have gotten rid fo the supersized items here in canada.

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unfortunately i can only find sources in danish :/

haha. as soon as i got into los angeles airport all those zillions of years ago, i decided i'd sit around and have a drink while i waited for my connecting flight. so i went to mcd's and ordered a medium diet coke.

it was the size of a fucking bucket. i just stared at it and said "i'm so glad i didn't order a large...". the guy thought i was nuts. but i have NEVER seen servings like that anywhere else. i can't believe american sizes.

oh and the meat tastes weird over there too. it seems to be extra juicy and meaty or something. i don't know. it's just weird.

i am a huge fan of wendy's though. best fast food ever.

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"I knew I was too late - and I was glad something bloodthirsty waited in the wings. For in failing at this, I forfeited any desire to live."

according to mcdonald's website and in surveys done, the american food portions are only a few grams more than most of the international ones, so i don't get this "everything is so much bigger" business.

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It's so they can make fast food faster. They cook up a bunch of patties, then put them in a bucket of water. As people order burgers, they stick them on the grill for about 30 seconds to heat them up. All the water from the bucket soaks in and makes them a nasty soggy mess.

Ewwww.

it sounds crazy, but i searched some danish papers online, and it appears to be true.

http://www.jp.dk/english_news/artikel:aid=3691606/ (article in english)

i'm stopping in a mcdonalds just to ask them if they do that.
that's vile.

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"A junkie is someone who uses their body to tell society that something is wrong.” - Stella Adler

I've had to work in the fast food industry. It's so disgusting. And when things get dropped on the floor, they are hardly ever thrown away. I got in trouble once from a boss who saw me throwing away some chicken nuggest that fell on the floor. He told me just to cook them anyway.

I refuse to ever work for any fast food industry again.

at the cinema where i work, the drinks cups and popcorn are considerably larger than they are in cinemas i've been to in the USA

it goes both ways.