Saturday 21 April 2012

McDonald’s strawberry ...

... (medium) milkshake has 103g or 20.6 teaspoons* (*Using the approximation of 5g of sugar = 1 teaspoon) , if you are brave and go for the Strawberry Triple Thick Shake (large) it comes with a whopping 168 g of sugar, that equates to almost 34 teaspoons of the waste thickening gunk.

To put this horrific information into perspective the UK Department of Health recommends that men consume on average no more than 70g of sugar a day, the equivalent of 14 teaspoons, and women no more than 50g per day, or 10 teaspoons.


So if you indulge yourself with that milkshake from McDonald's on the way to work think "sugar", and remember the remainder of the day when you choose from the following :
  • A jar of Dolmio Original Bolognese pasta sauce (750g): 50.2g or 10 teaspoons
  • Can of Coke classic (330ml): 35g or 7 teaspoons
  • Small Galaxy bar (46g): 25.5g or 5.1 teaspoons
  • Bottle of Glacéau Xxx Vitamin Water (500ml): 23g or 4.6 teaspoons
  • Tesco Simply Pepperoni deep crust pizza (450g): 22.4g or 4.5 teaspoons
  • Glass of Tropicana 100 per cent orange juice (200ml): 20g or 4 teaspoons
  • A pot of Müller Light Cherry yogurt (175g): 3g or 0.6 teaspoons
  • Serving of Special K Red Berries cereal (30g): 13g or 2.6 teaspoons
  • Nutri-Grain cereal bar (any flavour): 12g or 2.4 teaspoons
Last year, Robert Lustig, a leading expert in childhood obesity at the University of California, called for measures such as a tax on sweet food and drinks, limiting sales during school hours or even stopping children from buying them below a certain age. He believes our excessive consumption of sugar – not just sucrose, but specifically the high fructose corn syrup often added to food – is the primary reason that the numbers of those who are obese and/or diabetic has sky-rocketed in the past 30 years. The challenge is that many of us simply don’t know how much sugar already exists in our food. (source The Times, 21 April 2012)
 McDonald's nutritional facts for the "Brave Hearts" amongst us.

As a diabetic I should be very concerned but I'm not, very early on after diagnosis I worked it out that if I wished to keep my sight, limbs and kidney functions it was best to eat what I cooked myself, so McDonald's are just a passing fancy, I pass them by without a second thought.

I do wonder how culpable the food manufacturing companies have been in the rise of type 2 diabetes in the world at large, is type 2 diabetes an industrial injury in this respect ............


3 comments:

  1. John, I enjoy your blogs but I must say that we all make our own decisions about our diet, and in fact how we encourage and support our childgren. I agree with your comment on the responsibility of the food industry but will we all not drive cars, switch on that light or ask for product delivery from many miles. At the end of the day it is us who makes the decisions and puts the "pounds" in the shareholders pocket.

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    1. Absolutely, the final decision is with ourselves, moral autonomy is uppermost in my mind these politically awkward days.

      I still can't get over the Strawberry Triple Thick Shake (large) that comes with almost 34 teaspoons of sugar, although I will feel better drinking my mineral water.

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    2. Sorry for the delay in my reply, but have been out of the country. The States of all places! We think the Strawberry Triple Shake is full of fat but what about the moral question linked to their Chicken Mcnuggets. Now, the ingredients of this little one should be left in a chemical laboratory. Although not a fan of Wikipedia, if you compare this source with several others you will find significant commonality. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_McNuggets and try this one for size - Dimethylpolysiloxane, . Although I was perhaps hasty with my generalized comments about personal responsibility, as a society we should now stand up and say “enough is enough”. This is criminal!

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