Questions answered
There are 15 questions about “Sugar” in the “What's in the food?” topic.
Click on a question to read our answer.
- 1. Hi, I was just wondering if you have the glycemic load and glycemic index for some or any of your products. As a diabetic following a low GI/GL diet I was interested in what I could eat at McDonalds (by the way just to further complicate things - I am a vegetarian) - I know that the meats and salad ingredients have no GI or at most very low GI it was things like the wraps. buns, fries etc I was interested in?
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Thank you for your question. Unfortunately McDonald’s UK have not tested any menu items to determine glycaemic index or load. However as a rough guide we believe that wraps, buns and fries would not be classed as low GI due to their high carbohydrate levels. We recommend discussing our food with a dietician using the information available online in the 'Food' section of our website www.mcdonalds.co.uk.
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 2. At my school we watched a movie, Supersize Me, as you probably know is about McDonald's food. I just wanted to ask a few questions about the present, as the movie was made several years ago. My first question: Is there still sugar in your salad/ salad dressing? My second question: What are your milkshakes made of? I taste bananas in them sometimes, but maybe it's just me. My final question: why didn't you have your nutrition facts listed for everyone to see but instead in your basement?
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Thank you for your question. Without dressing the Crispy Chicken & Bacon Salad contains 4g of sugar and the Grilled Chicken and Bacon Salad contains 3g of sugar. Both the Caesar and Balsamic Dressing contain 3g of sugar per portion. The Garden Side Salad has 2g of sugar without dressing and potentially 5g with the Caesar dressing. With regards to your question concerning McDonald’s Milkshakes, each milkshake will have slightly different ingredients depending on its flavour but all milkshakes are made up of around 75 percent milk, which comes from the British Isles. The remaining 25 percent is made up of the additional ingredients required to ensure that the milkshakes remain fresh and the flavour ordered. This can all be found at the new McDonalds website www.mcdonalds.co.uk, where a full list of ingredients for McDonald’s milkshakes, along with all other McDonald’s food items is displayed under the 'Ingredients’ section. In addition nutritional information for all menu items is also clearly displayed on the reverse of all of McDonald’s tray liners in the restaurants.
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 3. how much sugar is in a medium bag of chips?
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Thank you for your question. There is approximately 1g of sugar in a medium portion of French Fries. Nutrition information for all McDonald’s UK menu items can be found on the reverse of our tray liners or by visiting our website www.mcdonalds.co.uk and selecting the ‘Food’ section.
(November 2009)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 4. How much teaspoons of sugar is in a large coke?
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Thank you for your question. There is 53g of sugar in a large Coca Cola drink. This is equivalent to approximately 9 teaspoons of sugar (1 teaspoon sugar approx 6g). If you'd like to reduce your sugar intake why not choose a Large Coke Zero instead. Information about the nutrition content of all our food can be found at our website www.mcdonalds.co.uk in the ‘Food’ section.
(October 2009)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 5. "Hey McDonalds, why don't you inform your customers about the amount of sugar in your foods? I am a diabetic and have searched all over packaging and leaflets and have found nothing ...? The least you could do is warn the customer of what EXACTLY they are eating WHEN they eat it. I believe the best way of doing so is to put nutritional information on the boxes. Please consider doing so"
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McDonald’s is sorry to hear of your problems finding nutritional information regarding its products and hopes that it has not caused you too much inconvenience. The company is fully committed to making sure all nutritional information is available to customers so they can make informed decisions about the meals they choose. You can find all McDonald's food, ingredients and nutritional information in store on the back of tray liners in the restaurants or online in the 'Ingredients List' located in the 'Eat Smart' section of www.mcdonalds.co.uk. In addition to this there is a comprehensive list of nutritional and allergen information available at www.mcdonaldsmenu.info. If you are ever in any doubt about the nutritional content of McDonald’s products then please ask a member of staff for assistance.
(July 2009)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 6. i like how on all the packaging there are the GDA's to all the products, but can anyone tell me the sugar content of anything as i have to watch my sugar intake, i'd love to know so i can eat more of or less of
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Firstly apologies for the delay in answering your question, the team has been very busy with all the questions that are pouring in and everybody is working hard to answer them all.
McDonald’s is pleased to hear you are happy about the availability of GDA information on the packaging. The company has listened to customer concerns and calls for more nutritional information to be made available, and as a result has striven to respond positively to such feedback, providing customers with the information they have requested. In answer to your question, you can find out all the nutritional content of McDonald’s food items in the ‘Nutrition Counter’ and the ingredients in the 'Ingredients' which are both in the ‘Food’ section of www.mcdonalds.co.uk. Additionally more detailed information can be found on www.mcdonaldsmenu.info. Finally, nutritional information can be found in restaurants themselves on the back of tray liners.
(Nov 2008)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 7. why do you put sugar in your burger buns?
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Thank you for your question. Sugar is a traditional ingredient in bread used to help the yeast develop and it caramelises when the bun is toasted to give the characteristic toasted appearance.
The burger buns contain the following amounts of sugar: The Big Mac Bun – 6g, the Regular Bun – 4.5g and the Quarter Pounder Bun – 4.7g. The Regular Bun is used in the Hamburger, Cheeseburger, Filet-o-Fish and BBQ Chicken Sandwiches. This works out to be roughly, 6 per cent, 5 per cent and 5 per cent of your guideline Daily Amount respectively. To find out more about McDonald's food ingredients, visit our website by cut and pasting the below link into your browser.
http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/food/ingredients/our-ingredients.mcd
(Dec 2008)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 8. "Hi, i am a diabetic and anytime i eat at McDonalds my sugar levels go through the roof?? How much sugar is added to the bread and fries? For obvious reasons i always drink the diet or zero drinks. No standard template replies please. P.S. Props on adding Coke Zero! Diet Coke tastes like someone has added bodily fluids ha ha."
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McDonald's is pleased to hear you are enjoying Coke Zero. The ingredients of the Fries are as follows: Potatoes, Non-hydrogenated 100 percent blend of rapeseed and sunflower oil, with dextrose only added at beginning of season. There is a very short period at the beginning of the potato season when young potatoes do not have enough natural sugars of their own to brown properly. During this period McDonald's will lightly coat the Fries with dextrose, a natural wheat-based sugar, to help them brown.
The burger buns contain the following amounts of sugar: The Big Mac Bun – 6g, the Regular Bun – 4.5g and the Quarter Pounder Bun – 4.7g. The Regular Bun is used in the Hamburger, Cheeseburger, Filet-o-Fish and BBQ Chicken Sandwiches. This works out to be roughly, 6 per cent, 5 per cent and 5 per cent of your guideline Daily Amount respectively. Sugar is used as an ingredient partially because it does make the buns taste good, but also as it caramelises it allows the surface of buns to toast properly. All McDonald's food ingredients are available online in the 'Ingredients List' which is in the 'Eat Smart' section of www.mcdonalds.co.uk. Nutritional information is also available in the ‘Eat Smart’ section, just click on the ‘Nutrition Counter.’ There is also a comprehensive list of nutritional and allergen information available at www.mcdonaldsmenu.info.
(September 2007)
FEBRUARY '08 UPDATE: McDonald’s UK now do not use any hydrogenated oil in any food items across the entire menu
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 9. You keep telling everyone that your burgers are made from 100% beef, but what about the other stuff thats added, like the sauce and the bread, I have heard that the bread contains a ridiculously high level of sugar...?
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All McDonald's food, ingredients and nutritional information are available online in the 'Ingredients List' which is in the 'Eat Smart' section of www.mcdonalds.co.uk. There is also a comprehensive list of nutritional and allergen information available at www.mcdonaldsmenu.info.
Also, any McDonald's menu item that you buy should have the full breakdown on its packaging (and online) of how it contributes to your recommended Guideline Daily Amount of different nutrients (fat, carbs, etc.) so you can see whether anything feels 'high' depending on what else you combine it with in a typical day's diet.
(October 2007)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 10. why does all of your food contain high sugar levels?? including your bread!
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McDonald's would have to disagree with you on this - not all of its food is high in sugar. The menu offers a wide range of food to suit most tastes and dietary requirements. A Big Mac, for example, has just nine percent of your sugar Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) and the Chicken McNuggets contain zero percent of your sugar GDA. The bread contains some sugar to give its characteristic flavour and texture. All nutrition information, including amounts of sugar can be found online at www.mcdonaldsmenu.info or on the back of the tray liners in restaurants.
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 11. i have been told that your hamburger/cheeseburger buns are made up of 13-15% sugar. is this true? what purpose does this serve other than making it addictive to consumers? and could this amount be reduced whilst maintaining the same quality?
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The Cheeseburger contains approximately eight grams of sugar which is found in the bun and the ketchup. McDonald's does not put anything in its food to make it addictive. Only the best ingredients, sourced from suppliers that adhere to the stringent rules set by McDonald's, are used to make the food. All McDonald's food ingredients are available online in the 'Ingredients List' which is in the 'Eat Smart' section at www.mcdonalds.co.uk. For a comprehensive list and break-down of nutritional information, please visit www.mcdonaldsmenu.info.
(September 2007)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 12. How many teaspoons of sugar are there in a Big Mac?.....Really?
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There are 9gms of sugar in a Big Mac, that's approximately 2.14 teaspoons. There is a comprehensive list of nutritional and allergen information available at www.mcdonaldsmenu.info.
(September 2007)
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 13. What is the sugar content in a Big Mac meal excluding drinks.
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A Big Mac meal contains 10g of sugar excluding drinks. The Big Mac itself contains 9g of sugar, while a medium portion of French Fries contains 1g of sugar.
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 14. how much sugar are in the buns?
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The burger buns contain the following amounts of sugar: The Big Mac Bun – 6g, the Regular Bun – 4.5g and the Quarter Bun – 4.7g. The Regular Bun is used in the Hamburger, Cheeseburger, Filet-o-Fish and BBQ Chicken Sandwiches. This works out to be rougly, 6%, 5%and 5% of your Guideline Daily Amount respectively.
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What are these? Delicious Digg Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon - 15. Which of your products have sugar in them?
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There are quite a few McDonald’s products that have some form of sugar in them - too many to list in this answer. But a few of those that don’t contain any sugar are the Hash Brown, Chicken McNuggets, Fish Fingers, Diet Coke and Mineral Water. The full nutritional breakdown for all McDonald’s food is available online at www.mcdonaldsmenu.info, and on the back of the tray liners in restaurants.
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