A Teaspoon Guide to McDonald’s® - How Much Sugar

A Teaspoon Guide to McDonald's?

2009

A Teaspoon Guide to McDonald's

McDonald's are often portrayed as the most evil of junk food purveyors and the obvious source of most of Australia's health problems. But how bad are they from a fructose perspective? Remember that a good rule of thumb for fructose content is to see how much sugar is in the food and halve it.

The following lists set out the items on the 2009 McDonald's Australian menus analyzed and ranked according to sugar content. As you'll soon be able to tell, it's easy to have a filling meal at McDonald's without binging on sugar. All you need to do is avoid most of the drinks, the desserts and the condiments. Just about everything else is just fine.

Burgers

It's a rare person who goes to Macca's without visions of imbibing in a burger. So that's a logical place to start. Here is a list of all the McDonald's burger offerings ranked by sugar content per serve. Obviously One Serve = One Burger. Because the burgers are different sizes the percentage sugar is different to the teaspoon ranking.

Even when taking into account all that lovely sauce, there isn't a single burger which will slug you with more than two teaspoons of sugar. And you will eat less than a teaspoon of sugar by having any of the top seven choices (which are all chicken or fish based).

Teaspoons of sugar per Burger

Filet-o-Fish

Burger

Percentage Sugar 1.9%

Classic Crispy Chicken

1.6%

Classic Seared Chicken

2.0%

McChicken

2.0%

Crispy Chicken Crispy Chicken Deluxe with Bacon

1.9% 2.0%

Seared Chicken Deluxe

2.3%

Hamburger

5.0%

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McDonald's is a registered trademark of McDonald's Australia Limited

? 2009 Morton Gillespie Pty Ltd - David Gillespie.

A Teaspoon Guide to McDonald's?

Teaspoons of sugar per Burger

Burger Cheeseburger

Seared Chicken Fillet with Bacon

Double Cheeseburger

Triple Cheeseburger

Big Mac

Lean Beef Burger

Quarter Pounder

Double Quarter Pounder

McFeast Deluxe

Percentage Sugar

4.6% 2.3% 3.3% 3.6% 3.0% 3.9% 3.5% 2.4% 3.1%

2009

Wraps

The Wraps aren't too bad either as long as you avoid anything with `Sweet Chilli' in its name.

Teaspoons of sugar per Wrap

Wrap Mini Seared Chicken

Percentage Sugar 0.9%

Mini Crispy Snack

2.9%

Deli-Choices Seared Chicken Caesar Tick Approved Chicken Tandoori Deli-Choices Crispy Chicken Caesar Tick Approved Chicken Sweet Chilli

2.1% 2.5% 3.3% 6.7%

Deli-Choices Crispy Chicken Sweet Chilli

7.9%

French Fries & Chicken Nuggets

You can safely add fries and Nuggets to you order as well. There isn't any sugar in French Fries and you would need to eat 60 McNuggets to consume just one teaspoon of sugar. If you cant eat a McNugget without a dipping sauce then you are in sugar trouble (see condiments below).

Drinks

Getting a low sugar drink at Macca's is a little trickier, but now that they sell water, it's no longer as hard. Most of the rest of the drink menu leaves a lot to be desired if you don't like artificial sweeteners or hot drinks.

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McDonald's is a registered trademark of McDonald's Australia Limited

? 2009 Morton Gillespie Pty Ltd - David Gillespie.

A Teaspoon Guide to McDonald's?

2009

The milk based drinks in this list have been adjusted to allow for the lactose. This means I have reduced the sugar content on the label by 4.7% to allow for the lactose in milk (which of course does not contain fructose ? confused yet? Read Sweet Poison).

Here are the drinks ranked from lowest sugar per serve to highest.

Teaspoons of sugar per Drink (after

removing lactose)

Drink Diet Coke (All Sizes)

Spring Water

All Coffee and Tea based drinks

Small Sprite Small Orange Juice

Small Chocolate Shake

Small Vanilla Shake Small Coke Small Strawberry Shake

Apple Juice

Small Fanta

Medium Sprite

Medium Orange Juice

Medium Coke

Regular Frozen Coke or Fanta

Medium Fanta

Large Chocolate Shake

Large Strawberry or Vanilla Shake

Large Sprite Large Coke Large Frozen Fanta Large Frozen Coke

Large Fanta

Percentage Sugar (after removing lactose)

0.0%

0.0%

0.0% 8.6% 8.2% 8.5% 13.5% 9.3% 13.5% 11.0%

11.4%

8.6%

8.2%

9.3%

13.5%

11.4%

8.5%

8.9%

8.6% 9.3% 13.5% 13.5%

11.4%

Desserts

And don't even think about desert. But just in case you're curious, here they are (once again adjusted for lactose). If you cant get through a meal without pudding, then I recommend you stick to the Applie Pie.

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McDonald's is a registered trademark of McDonald's Australia Limited

? 2009 Morton Gillespie Pty Ltd - David Gillespie.

A Teaspoon Guide to McDonald's?

2009

Teaspoons of sugar per Dessert (after removing lactose)

Apple Pie

Dessert

Soft Serve Cone

McDonaldland Cookies

Sundae with no topping

Sundae with Strawberry topping

Sundae with Hot Caramel topping

McFlurry with Oreo Cookies

Sundae with Hot Fudge topping

McFlurry with M&M Minis

Percentage Sugar (after removing lactose)

8.6% 14.9% 27.6% 15.9% 21.3% 20.8% 16.8% 22.5% 20.5%

Breakfast

If breakfast is your thing, then there are some very low sugar options at Macca's. But beware of anything involving a `Hotcake'. Here's the list:

Teaspoons of sugar per item

Hash Brown

Meal Item

Percentage Sugar 0.0%

Vegemite Spread

0.0%

All Coffee and Tea based drinks

0.0%

Whipped Butter (after adjusting for lactose)

Peanut Butter Spread

English Muffin Sausage McMuffin

Sausage & Egg McMuffin

Bacon & Egg McMuffin

Marmalade Strawberry Jam

Deli-Choices Deluxe Brekkie Roll English Muffin & Jam

Honey

0.0%

8.1% 2.0% 1.3% 1.0%

1.4%

65.2% 65.5%

4.4% 14.6%

82.1%

Deli-Choices Deluxe Brekkie Roll

6.0%

Plain Hotcakes

9.4%

Uncle Toby's Yoghurt & Muesli Cup (ex-Lactose)

10.5%

Hotcake Syrup

53.3%

Hotcakes with Syrup and Butter

20.8%

`Healthy' Options

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McDonald's is a registered trademark of McDonald's Australia Limited

? 2009 Morton Gillespie Pty Ltd - David Gillespie.

A Teaspoon Guide to McDonald's?

2009

A little while ago McDonald's decided the health conscious among us needed to be lured through the door with all manner of healthier options. They are `healthier' because they are low fat but in many cases sugar makes an unwelcome appearance via dressings.

Teaspoons of sugar

per Menu Item

Menu Item

Pasta Pets Caesar Salad Dressing Garden Salad (No Dressing) Crispy Chicken Caesar with Bagel Chips (No Dressing) Seared Chicken Caesar with Bagel Chips (No Dressing) Zoo Goo Sauce Italian Salad Dressing Classic Chicken Caesar with Bagel Chips (No Dressing) Seared Classic Chicken Caesar with Bagel Chips (No Dressing) Balsamic Salad Dressing Apple Slices Tick Approved Filet-o-Fish, Garden Salad and Italian Dressing Tick Approved McChicken, Garden Salad and Italian Dressing

Tick Approved Hamburger, Garden Salad and Italian Dressing Tick Approved Chicken Tandoori Wrap, Garden Salad and Italian Dressing Tick Approved 6pc McNuggets, Garden Salad and Italian Dressing Tick Approved Lean Beef Burger, Garden Salad and Italian Dressing Tick Approved Chicken Sweet Chilli Wrap, Garden Salad and Italian Dressing

Percentage Sugar

0.4% 3.1% 1.1% 0.7% 0.9% 7.7% 9.8% 0.9% 1.1% 9.4% 11.5% 2.5% 2.4%

3.6% 2.6% 3.7% 3.4% 5.0%

Condiments

While many of the meals above a very low in sugar, a sugar avoider can come undone in the condiment department. A low sugar lifestyle means learning to eat a Macca's meal without smothering it in any of the following. If you can stop at one serve (one little packet) you might not do too much harm but remember each sachet contains the number of teaspoons of sugar you see in this table:

Teaspoons of sugar per sachet

Condiment

Creamy Ranch Dipping Sauce

Percentage Sugar 4.5%

Ketchup

20.5%

Mustard

Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce Barbeque Sauce

Tangy Plum Dipping Sauce

20.3% 34.1% 31.2% 38.1%

Sweet & Sour Sauce

35.8%

Sweet Thai Chilli Sauce

39.6%

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McDonald's is a registered trademark of McDonald's Australia Limited

? 2009 Morton Gillespie Pty Ltd - David Gillespie.

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