The McDonald's Item With The Most Sodium Is A Popular Burger Choice

Despite its ups and downs over the decades, McDonald's remains the world's most popular fast-food restaurant chain. So, it's no surprise that with more than 38,000 locations in 100 countries, whenever you get a craving for a burger and fries there's probably a store nearby. We all know, however, that convenience doesn't always cooperate with dietary restrictions, so it's helpful to know which items are high in nutrients like saturated fat and cholesterol. One of their most popular burgers, the Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese, for example, has the most sodium of anything on the menu.

Each burger is made with two 4-ounce all-beef patties and two slices of American cheese, plus toppings of slivered onions, pickles, ketchup, and mustard. The sandwich clocks in at 1,360 milligrams of sodium, which is 59% of the FDA's recommended daily value (DV) for an average adult. So if you're trying to stay under the 2,300-milligram daily limit, which is all the sodium a regular person needs to eat in one day, you might want to skip adding the large fries, which will add another 400 milligrams, leaving just 540 milligrams left for all the food you eat for the rest of the day. For an idea of how much that is, a quarter of a teaspoon of salt contains 581 milligrams of sodium.

Speaking of teaspoons, a Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese has about the same amount of sodium as a half teaspoon, which is 1,163 milligrams. So how does it get so salty? First of all, 1 ounce of ground beef with 80% meat and 20% fat contains 19-20 milligrams of sodium according to the USDA, so at 8 ounces per sandwich, that's 152 milligrams. The cheese is an even bigger expense, with 200 milligrams per slice, then the bun adds another 270 milligrams. That leaves around 500 milligrams, which is likely the seasoning.

If you're craving a Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese, but you're trying to cut back on sodium, one of the easiest ways to dial it down is to ask for one less slice of cheese. If you really miss the cheese, make it more interesting by going for a Deluxe, which adds some extra veggies. We happen to think that the Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese is the worst burger on the menu, though, so if you don't like to special order, a regular McDouble can scratch the same itch and clocks in at 920 milligrams of sodium. Of course, the Quarter Pounder and Double Quarter Pounder burgers are the only patties on the menu that aren't frozen, so if you prefer those burgers, consider skipping the cheese altogether to get it down to 940 milligrams, which is 40% of your daily recommended value — plenty of wiggle room to add a small order of fries.