These are the least healthy breakfasts on the high street (and why you should avoid Wetherspoon’s 1,500-calorie fry up)
Whether you’re treating yourself to a full English, or ‘being healthy’ with a simple pot of porridge, your brekkie might surprise you when it comes to its actual nutritional value
HAVE you ever wondered just how healthy your breakfast is?
Whether you’re treating yourself to a full English, or ‘being healthy’ with a simple pot of porridge, your brekkie might surprise you when it comes to its actual nutritional value.
Now, the unhealthiest breakfast meals from popular high street chains have been revealed – and some of the results will shock you.
A team of health experts examined 11 different high street restaurants, including McDonald's, Greggs, Starbucks and Wetherspoon, to find out the worst offenders when it came to being unhealthy.
GP Dr Wayne Osbourne and health website rated breakfasts based on their calories, saturated fat, salt and sugar content before ranking the worst 11 items from each restaurant in order of unhealthiness.
And it’s bad news for any health conscious ‘Spoons fans – their ‘Large Breakfast’ comes top in almost every category.
The restaurants and coffee shops he tested were: Wetherspoon, Harvester, Wimpy, McDonald's, Greggs, Burger King, Costa Coffee, Starbucks, Pret A Manger, Caffe Nero and Eat.
Calories
The most calorific breakfast meal was found to be Wetherspoon's Large Breakfast - which packs in a whopping 1,531 calories.
The brekkie takes up three quarters of a women's recommended daily allowance of 2,000 calories, and two thirds of a man's 2,500 recommended calorie intake.
Not too far behind Wetherspoon is Harvester's Ultimate Breakfast Bap, which has 1,307 calories.
Coffee shop Eat's most calorific breakfast option was the healthiest in comparison. Their bacon, egg, avocado and chipotle ketchup roll contains just 444 calories.
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Highest sugar
Belgian Waffles from Harvester were found to contain the most sugar out of the meals examined, but not far behind is MOMA Porridge with Banana and Honey from Wetherspoon, which although may seem a healthier choice, contains 64.3g of the white stuff.
Dr Osbourne explains that almost all of the breakfast options listed could contain someone's daily allowance for sugar – because there is a difference between total sugars, and added sugars.
“Health guidelines state that foods with added sugar should actually make up no more than five per cent of a person’s daily calorie intake”, he added.
Highest salt
Once again, Wetherspoon's Large Breakfast tops the list again, according to the research.
At first, Dr Osbourne says he wondered whether or not Wetherspoon had made a mistake on their nutritional information, as it so much higher than the other meals listed.
The big brekkie contains over three times an adult’s recommended daily salt intake of 2.6 grams.
However, nearly all of the unhealthiest items from the restaurants contained more than the recommended daily allowance of salt - with only meals from Burger King, Caffe Nero and Costa Coffee containing less than this.
Dr Osbourne said: “Those who consume too much salt on a regular basis are at increased risk of high blood pressure, which can in turn lead to heart disease and stroke.”
Most saturated fat
Wetherspoon's Large Breakfast is the worst, once again, for its whopping 40.2g of saturated fat –over double the healthy recommended 20g daily intake for an adult.
The large brekkie is also three times higher in salt than McDonald's Double Sausage Egg McMuffin, which contains 12g.
Harvester's Ultimate Breakfast Bap is also a sinner when it comes to salt, at 29.4g.
Although they rank from fourth place onwards, five of the 11 dishes examined were croissants - which would likely be prepared with plenty of butter.
Dr Osbourne said: “However many may be surprised to learn that croissants can contain more saturated fat than those traditional breakfast dishes we might often see as being more fatty, such as the bacon sandwich.”
Verdict
Dr Osbourne wanted to make clear that of course all these restaurants do provide healthier options too.
But he added: “Clearly the environment where we have the most control over the food we eat is in our home kitchen, when we prepare the meal ourselves from scratch.
He also added that eating out can be healthy too.
He said: “Provided you’re disciplined and consistently choose healthy options, frequenting chain outlets for breakfast can be a healthy (if more costly) alternative to preparing breakfast at home.”
Wetherspoon’s list the calorie content of their food on their menu, so people that choose the Big Breakfast are likely already aware of the calories – and they do provide breakfasts ranging from 200 calories.