What's Really in McDonald's Chicken Nuggets? Dietitians explain | Livestrong.com (2024)

Mickey D's Chicken McNuggets are allowed in moderation as part of a balanced diet.

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A classic for children (and children at heart),McDonald's Chicken McNuggetshas been at the forefront of public attention for decades. Many parents depend on themquick and easy dinners, but are they really something we should feed our children – or eat ourselves?

“The Chicken McNugget has continually improved since its inception in the 1980s,” says the registered dietitian.Sarah Pflugradt, RDN, CSCS. While chicken nuggets are fast food and not something everyone should eat every day, they're also not the worst thing you can eat, she says.

We've taken a closer look at what's actually in a McDonald's chicken nugget and what it means for your health.

If you've ever wondered what's really in McDonald's chicken nuggets, we explain each ingredient and how it can affect your health. The ingredients below are listed in descending order so that the ingredients used in the largest quantity are used first and those used in smaller quantities next.

The main ingredient in McDonald's chicken nuggets is 100 percent white, bonelesschicken fillet meat.

Myths have been around before that the meat is full of by-products, but their current recipe uses only 100 percent chicken breast. In terms of the percentage of the nugget is white meat chicken: the chicken is part of the chicken nugget, while the remaining twelve ingredients make up the rest.

The vegetable oil in the chicken nuggets is a mixture of canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil and hydrogenated soybean oil. Although most vegetable oils are primarily unsaturated fats (except coconut and palm oil), the hydrogenation process increases the amount of saturated fat in any oil, according to research.Consumer Reports.

“A gold nugget cut into four pieces contains 1.5 grams of saturated fat, which falls within both the US government and American Heart Association guidelines for saturated fat intake. It is something to be aware of and limit in the diet, but don't worry about it. small amounts," says Pflugradt.

Some of the breadcrumbs in the chicken nuggets are made from wheat flour that has been bleached and then enriched by adding niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin and folic acid.

Fortified grains have helped alleviate some common nutrient deficiencies. Fortified grains are the largest source of human folic acid given to women at birth in the United States, and adding folic acid to grains has reduced the number of neural tube defects caused by folate deficiency during pregnancy by 35 percent, according to a May study . Article from 2019 iAdvances in nutrition.

Next in line is bleached flour, i.edoesn'tenriched with nutrients. Flour is bleached, making the texture finer, lighter and whiter in color. All flour eventually reaches a bleached state as it ages and is exposed to oxygen, but flour that has been bleached with chemicals is by definition labeled "bleached."Algemene Mills Foods.

"Bleached flour is a food that gets a lot of attention. It's impossible to know what type of bleaching agents are used in the flour McDonald's uses for their nuggets," says Pflugradt. ThatUS Food and Drug Administration(FDA) allows and regulates nitrogen oxides, chlorine, nitrosyl chloride, chlorine dioxide, benzoyl peroxide, acetone peroxide, and azodicarbonamide all to be used as bleaching agents in amounts considered safe.

Yellow cornmeal is a whole wheat flour that is added to the Chicken McNuggets batter. It is a source of carbohydrates, but also provides a fair amount of iron, a mineral that keeps oxygen flowing through the blood, per serving.National Institute of Health(NIH).

McDonald's chicken nuggets use a blend of vegetable starch from corn, wheat, rice and peas. Starch is a carbohydrate found in plants. Adding vegetable starch to the batter increases the crispiness of the breadcrumbs during frying, according to a February 2004 article in ‌European food research and technology.

A four-piece serving of McDonald's chicken nugget contains 330 milligrams of sodium. If you order 10, you will eat 840 milligrams of sodium in just one meal.

A diet high in sodium can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and even contribute to osteoporosis by causing calcium to leach from your bones.Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

OfAmerican Heart Associationrecommends less than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day. A four- or six-piece chicken nugget meal contains some sodium, but when you consider the other foods you eat in a day, they still fit into a sodium-controlled diet.

To help the chicken nuggets puff up during the heating process, McDonald's adds a mixture of several leavening agents, including baking soda, sodium aluminum phosphate, acid sodium pyrophosphate, calcium lactate and monocalcium phosphate, to the batter.

All these additives are regulated byFDAand approved for use in food.

The spices used in McDonald's chicken nuggets are not disclosed, but are used to add flavor to the batter.

Yeast extract is added to improve the taste of the food, as is the additive monosodium glutamate (MSG), because it is alsoamino acid glutamate.

Glutamate is an amino acid that occurs naturally in the body and is often added to foods for an umami flavor. It is necessary for neuron and brain function and, according to him, also plays a role in memory and cognitionCleveland Clinic.

Although eating too much MSG has been linked to symptoms such as headaches, numbness, tingling or flushing, yeast extract contains much less glutamate and is unlikely to cause any kind of reaction, according to the study.Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Dried lemon juice adds freshness to food. A small amount is used in McDonald's chicken nuggets.

Dextroseis a simple sugar used to sweeten food. Although diets high in added sugars are linked to diabetes, heart disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and some cancers, a November 2016 article in ‌ showsNutrientsVery little is added to McDonald's chicken nuggets.

According toFDA, natural flavors on an ingredients list are flavors derived from:

The origin of the flavors cannot be disclosed, making it unknown where the natural flavors in McDonald's chicken nuggets come from.

There are no real health concerns with itnatural flavorsunless you have food allergies or dietary restrictions that would allow you to avoid them, or contact the company about where the natural flavors come from.

The dreaded 'pink slime' found inFast foodmeat was sensationalized in 2010 by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver in a video showing schoolchildren how to make Chicken McNuggets. The "slime" in question is actually a product known as fine-textured lean beef.

To make this type of meat product, the beef cuts are heated and then sent through a centrifuge to separate the fat from the lean meat. The lean meat mixture is then treated with an ammonium gas to kill any E. coli or salmonella present, according to an April 2012 reportCongressional Research Servicerapport.

Although McDonald's used this product in the past, they removed it from all their foods in August 2011, according to a statement inABC news. And according toMcDonald's-website, the "pink slime" is still nowhere to be found in their chicken nuggets or other products sold in McDonald's stores.

"All in all, eating some Chicken McNuggets every now and then won't break your healthy eating habits," says Pflugradt.

McDonald's has made many changes to their chicken nugget recipe over the years to use better quality products and meet consumer desires for more natural, yet tasty and inexpensive convenience foods.