Over the last few years, fast-food chains receive flak for the types of food they're serving, which have high saturated fat, calories and sodium, as well as their large drinks with too much sugar. In fact, experts are pointing fingers on them for contributing to the increased rate of obesity in the United States.
24/7 Wall Street, through Time, however, wanted to know which among these popular fast-food chains are the least healthy. To come up with the list, they looked into the contents of their menu, evaluating them based on calories, fat, sodium, and overall nutrition value.
On the top spot is Sonic with around 10 of its burgers containing over 1,000 calories and with food having as much as 3.5 grams of trans fat.
In second spot is Carl's Jr. due to breakfast sandwiches that have more than 5 grams of trans fat. Below it is Whataburger with no less than 40% of the sides deemed unhealthy.
Rounding up the lists are:
Burger King, which is notorious for its incredibly large patties, surprisingly ranked at number 10, with at least 25% of their menu having more than 600 calories.
Checkers came in 9th spot where almost 80% of its menu having over 10 grams of saturated fat. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to remain healthy, a person should up to 4 grams of fat per meal and no more than 20 grams a day.
In the 8th place is Chick-fil-A. While the main dishes are some of the healthiest, the sides are also the worst in terms of nutrition value. In fact, less than 20% of their menu have good nutritive impact.
Taking the 7th place is Wendy's, which already has numerous branches around the world. About 45% of its items contain sodium that is more than 1,000mg. Further, some of its dishes have a very high sugar content even if they are low in calories.
Jack in the Box lands on the 6th place, with more than 6 of its sandwiches already meeting the daily recommended allowance for saturated fat. Arby's is criticized for the presence of trans fat in all of its sandwiches with roast beef. It also scored very low in Quiznos, meanwhile, is 4th mainly due to its sandwiches that have incredibly high calories.