Reasons Why McDonald's Is Bad for You

There's few things as American as eating at McDonald's. The company is the second largest fast food chain in the world, with 32,737 locations spread across six continents. According to the Super Size Me website, one in four Americans visit a fast food restaurant every day. As popular as it may be, however, McDonald's also has a reputation for providing people with unhealthy food options. The chain is known for having processed fats, high sodium contents and unhealthy chemicals in its foods. McDonald's may be well known, but eating there constantly can be very damaging to your health.

Pet Food Comparison

According to a study by NEQ ATUDY, in which experts compared 30 human meals and 15 pet foods such as Gourmet Gold Cat Food, pet foods are less fattening than a McDonald's Big Mac. They are much healthier than the restaurant's overall options as well.

Fat Gain

According to the Super Size Me website, it would take you seven straight hours of walking to burn off all the calories gained from a Super-Sized Coke, fries and a Big Mac. A Big Mac by itself is 590 calories. A McDonalds's large-size biscuit is 790 calories. A McDonald's Deluxe-Sized breakfast without syrup or margarine comes with 1,140 extra calories.

McNuggets

While McDonald's may tout its nuggets as being "100 percent white meat," the reality is the nuggets actually contain much more than just that. McNugget ingredients also include baking soda, bleached wheat flour and citric acid. The nuggets are prepared in vegetable oil with tertiary butylhydroquinone, or TBHQ. According to the World Health Organization, TBHQ is an artifical antioxidant made from petroleum. One gram of TBHQ can cause you to suffocate, throw up or even bring about delirium, while 5 grams of TBHQ can be fatal.

Erectile Dysfunction

A study performed by cardiologists at the University of Maryland found endothelial dysfunction in subjects who ate McDonald's Egg McMuffins with sausages and hash browns. This dysfunction is known to deposit plaque on the inner layers of heart artery walls, increasing blood cholesterol levels and chances for a heart-attack, among other complications. Endothelial dysfunction can also bring about erectile dysfunction, further proved by "Supersize Me," Morgan Spurlock's 2004 documentary on the dangers of fast food.