Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Way to go, Wendy's. Eww.

Nate Silver from FiveThirtyEight has taken a very careful look at KFC's Double Down to determine if it is in fact the "caloric monstrosity that it appears" and the results just may surprise you: It's not the absolute worst fast food option out there. In the chart below Nate uses one KFC Double Down as a unit of comparison.


"...So, is the Double Down the most gluttonous fast food sandwich ever created? It depends on how you measure it. At the margins, consuming one Double Down almost certainly isn't as bad for you as a Triple Baconator, a Thickburger, or even a fully-loaded Chipotle burrito. But while those products should, in theory, fill you up for at least half the day, the Double Down might leave you hankering for seconds. It's a high bar to clear, but it's the closest thing to pure junk food of any "sandwich" being marketed today.

** To calculate Double Downs for your own favorite sandwich, apply the following formula: divide the number of mg of cholesterol by 469, the number of mg of sodium by 3,754, the number of grams of total fat by 133, the number of grams of saturated fat also by 133, and the number of grams of trans-fat by 66. Then sum the result. To calculate Double Downs per Calorie (DDPC), take the above result, divide by the number of calories, and multiply by 540..."

7 comments:

becky said...

way to ruin most fast food

Deborah said...

You could possibly feel good about getting the Buffalo Snacker or McChicken?? Lolz. Sorry. Someone's gotta bring truth!

Neeks said...

since i did not see pizza on the list...I guess that's still in the mix for foods that are good for ya....lol

Anonymous said...

I was fairly impressed by the McDonald's McChicken rating.... been known to have those when pressed for time and Mickey D's is en route! LM

Deb said...

Love how LM is always "anonymous" then LM.

Neeks - Pizza, like ice cream, is exempt from all measurement.

Cid73 said...

even the names "triple baconator" and "monster thickburger" imply nasty, tasteless. What were marketing professionals thinking?

Deb said...

Perhaps nasty and tasteless to me and you, Cid73, is mouth-wateringly tempting to others?? Nonetheless.... ewww.