Fast food calories compared

Obesity levels are rising, so you would assume that calories in food would be getting lower, not higher. On average, a woman should be eating 2000 calories a day, while a man should be eating 2500, quite high you would think, until you see the latest food on offer to you.

After KFC unveiled its Double Down Sandwich - it's bun-less burger, eyes have focused on the fast food industry over the calorie content in the food. In other words, the easy way to clog your arteries.

The crispy "Original Recipe" version of the Double Down Sandwich weighs in at 540 calories, its grilled equivalent, 460. This alone is frightening enough, until you start to take a look at the other burgers on offer, and then you really start to give yourself a fright.

Taking a look at others available on the market, and you start to realise that the Double Down Sandwich is just the tip of the iceberg. The Burger King Chicken Tendercrisp weighs in at 800 calories, for instance, and Jack-in-the-Box's Ranch Chicken Club will set you back 700 calories, the article Double Down by the Numbers: Unhealthiest Sandwich Ever? states.

Turning the attention to beef burgers, and the calorie counts get even scarier. There's 1320 for a Hardee's Monster Thickburger, and 1350 for a Wendy's Triple Baconator. Not quite as bad, but still roughly a quarter of woman's daily calorie intake, is the Big Mac, which contains 540 calories, exactly the same number as the Double Down claims to have.

Damaging your cholesterol

Moving away from calories, and there's more to these sandwiches and burgers that meet the eye. Enter cholesterol, with its salt and fat intake; the real heart stopper.

Now this is where the Double Down really does the damage. The sandwich contains 145 milligrams of cholesterol (more than twice that of the Big Mac and about half of theUSDA's daily allowance) - as well as 1380 milligrams of salt, when the USDA recommends no more than 2400 per day and 32 grams of fat (65 will keep you slim, says the government).

We can't just point a finger at the Double Down though, there's other burgers on the market which are equally as bad.

And just think, this is all in one meal, just one out of there three main meals you're supposed to have in one day. Doesn't leave much room for a salad or healthy snacks really does it?

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