Health & Medicine
'Satisfries': Are Lower-Fat French Fries from Burger King actually Healthier?
Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Sep 25, 2013 11:10 AM EDT
If you're anything like us, the new low-fat Burger King French fries may have you all up in arms about what this exactly means for your health. Can French fries really be any kind of healthy and will this still satisfy our fast food cravings for salty fried foods?
The website notes that this new French fry will replace the old classic with one third of the fat and 20 percent fewer calories, while the original contained 340 calories compared to 240 calories in a smaller size.
"We know our guests are hungry for options that are better for them, but don't want to compromise on taste," said Alex Macedo, president of Burger King North America.
The secret behind the production of the new Satisfry, according to the company, is a reduction in the potato's oil absorption that allows the fries to remain "crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside."
Statistics show that the fast food joint is believed to deliver close to 56 million orders of fries every month.
Burger King's Satisfries reportedly have 40 percent less fat than McDonald's fries, and the fries serve 11.2 grams of fat compared to 6.3 grams in Burger King's 70-gram serving.
"When it comes to what we eat, we know that small changes can have a big impact," Macedo said.
Yet some skeptics are not so certain.
Michael Moss, author of "Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us," and an investigative reporter for The New York Times notes that this may give customers the opportunity to overindulge.
"It sort of may give people permission to overeat," he said, via CBS News. "That's one of the problems with diet sodas, right? You drink a diet soda and you get this sense that it acts as maybe a prophylactic against calories so you have an extra-large muffin. That's one of the issues. The other problem is fat is so powerful as an ingredient. ... It's not a taste. It's a sensation -- that warm, gooey toasted cheese sandwich sensation goes right to the pleasure center of the brain, tells you to eat more. So the question is, can people resist? The issue is controlling these foods rather than letting them control you."
What do you think?
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First Posted: Sep 25, 2013 11:10 AM EDT
If you're anything like us, the new low-fat Burger King French fries may have you all up in arms about what this exactly means for your health. Can French fries really be any kind of healthy and will this still satisfy our fast food cravings for salty fried foods?
The website notes that this new French fry will replace the old classic with one third of the fat and 20 percent fewer calories, while the original contained 340 calories compared to 240 calories in a smaller size.
"We know our guests are hungry for options that are better for them, but don't want to compromise on taste," said Alex Macedo, president of Burger King North America.
The secret behind the production of the new Satisfry, according to the company, is a reduction in the potato's oil absorption that allows the fries to remain "crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside."
Statistics show that the fast food joint is believed to deliver close to 56 million orders of fries every month.
Burger King's Satisfries reportedly have 40 percent less fat than McDonald's fries, and the fries serve 11.2 grams of fat compared to 6.3 grams in Burger King's 70-gram serving.
"When it comes to what we eat, we know that small changes can have a big impact," Macedo said.
Yet some skeptics are not so certain.
Michael Moss, author of "Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us," and an investigative reporter for The New York Times notes that this may give customers the opportunity to overindulge.
"It sort of may give people permission to overeat," he said, via CBS News. "That's one of the problems with diet sodas, right? You drink a diet soda and you get this sense that it acts as maybe a prophylactic against calories so you have an extra-large muffin. That's one of the issues. The other problem is fat is so powerful as an ingredient. ... It's not a taste. It's a sensation -- that warm, gooey toasted cheese sandwich sensation goes right to the pleasure center of the brain, tells you to eat more. So the question is, can people resist? The issue is controlling these foods rather than letting them control you."
What do you think?
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone