McDonald's burgers and fries are worse for your health than they were in 1989

Despite McDonald's attempts to introduce healthier snack options, the food offered by the fast-food giant has been revealed to contain more fats, sugar and salt than what's considered healthy.

McDonald's most popular menu items such as Big Mac, French Fries and Quarter Pounder with cheese were found to be unhealthier in 2018 than they were 30 years ago. According to The Sun, a Big Mac and Filet-O-Fish now has three times the sugar that burgers contained in 1989 and the regular french fries had 42 per cent more calories.

McDonald's food has evolved a lot in the past three decades, and the brand has brought a number of changes in portion size, breadth and nutritional content. Therefore, it's difficult to compare today's snacks with what was offered 30 years ago, a McDonald's spokesperson told FEMAIL.

He added: "Since 2005, we’ve reduced the salt content across our entire menu by nearly 35 per cent, the trans-fat content of our cooking oil by 94 per cent and saturated fat by 83 per cent, and almost 90 per cent of our standard food and drink items now contain fewer than 500 calories.

"For more than 30 years we have provided clear nutritional information, at point of sale and on tray liners, to help our customers make informed choices, and our menu has evolved over the years so it provides more choice than ever from salads, to wraps, to coffee, to fruit bags."

This news comes just months after UK was voted the most obese country in western Europe.

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, about 26.9 percent of the UK population had a body mass index of 30 and above, the official definition of obesity, in 2015.

“One could weep over the figures, the result of successive governments who have, for the last 30 years, done next to nothing to tackle obesity," Tam Fry, chair of the National Obesity Forum, was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

“Even today, we have only a pathetic attempt by Theresa May’s administration to get serious about reducing the numbers and avoiding an official estimate that more than 50% of the UK will be obese by 2050. Ten years ago, a government department report stated that the nation was sleepwalking into obesity – but no minister, either then or since, has woken up to the fact.”