Is the American diet really unhealthy? Pasta style, peanut butter and even Big Macs are reaching their British counterparts

So much for a good meal.

The value of America’s ultraprocessed payments – especially the Macs favored by President-elect Donald Trump – is getting a new look because of Trump’s nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

Kennedy made headlines for calling legal food additives “poison” and criticizing the ingredients in Froot Loops, but long before he ran for president, sites like Food Babe were highlighting the differences horrors of America’s most over-hyped foods compared to their counterparts overseas.

The Post independently looked at the nutrition labels of three US foods – baked beans, tomato sauce and peanut butter – to compare their ingredients, calories, fat and salt with similar products in the UK to see whether we are being destroyed by power.

We’ve also added nutritional information for McDonald’s Big Macs and Pret A Manger’s side-by-side egg salad – and surprisingly, even seemingly similar products were not.

Darin Detwiler, an assistant professor of food policy at Northeastern University, told The Post that he can’t eat other US staples like bread because of the operation. But he has no problem eating bread in Amsterdam and other places in Europe.

Travelers have noted on social media that they have lost weight while traveling in Europe, despite eating seemingly “unhealthy” foods such as bread and cheese. While they may be moving more during their holiday – or eating smaller portions – many have found that the difference comes down to the quality of the food they are served.

So is American food that bad compared to other countries? Detwiler calls it “different.”

“Companies in America tend to make foods that are suitable for healthy American adults, while we have a lot of vulnerable people – the very young, the elderly, the immunocompromised and the pregnant,” said said Detwiler.

“When it comes to why you don’t see certain ingredients in food when you’re in Canada or Europe, it’s because [the companies there are] it’s based that on someone who’s vulnerable,” added Detwiler, who advises the US Food and Drug Administration. “And if you’re responsible for everyone, then you look at the fact that your base needing … the most consideration.”

Europe is said to take a more conservative approach to food safety than the US, with a government “turnover” that allows food companies to determine what is “known to be safe.”

More than 10,000 chemicals and additives are allowed in US food while the European Union only allows more than 300 foods.

For example, the EU has banned titanium dioxide from food because of concerns that it could damage DNA. In response to the 2022 implementation, the US candy company Mars changed its Skittles recipe to remove the coloring agent sold in Europe. Titanium dioxide is still an ingredient in US Skittles as it has been approved by the FDA.

“What I don’t understand is, why are American companies okay with making and distributing their best brands of cereal boxes or whatever to Canada and the EU, but they doesn’t do that here in the United States?” Detwiler wondered. “To me, that’s a problem, and I think there’s going to have to be questions that are going to be raised and resolved in terms of why are we allowing companies to do that?”

These questions come as more than 40% of US adults and nearly 20% of US children suffer from obesity. Not surprisingly, ultraprocessed foods — often loaded with calories, sugar, salt and fat — make up nearly 60% of the average diet of US adults.

Even in the midst of the obesity epidemic, Detwiler and other experts say RFK Jr. is facing an uphill battle within the industry and among consumers to make major changes to the American diet.

“It will be difficult, of course. I mean, we’ve created a monster with the sugary and processed foods that we have,” Jamie Maitland, certified nutritionist, author of “The 21 Day Reset Cookbook” and founder of The Office Health , he told The Post.

Maitland attributes the resistance to change to cultural norms, preferences, and convenience, noting that “the American diet is often designed to have long-term, low-cost, high-quality production.” leading to a complex list of ingredients that are unfortunately full of preservatives, artificial flavors.”

Sotiria Everett, an assistant professor at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, hopes that the new debate about the American diet increases awareness about the food we eat.

“Most people don’t read labels. They only eat something because something on the front of the package might make a statement or claim that appeals to them, [like] ‘vitamin C’ or ‘grain source,'” Everett said. But when you open the package and see that even though there are grains, there are also 40 grams of sugar, it’s not the best choice.

Here’s a look at the nutritional value of five popular American foods and their UK counterparts.

Baked beans

A 100-gram serving of Bush’s Original Baked Beans has almost thirty more calories, more carbohydrates, sodium and four times more sugar and fat than Heinz Baked Beans from the UK.

Another big difference between the two products is that Bush’s beans are in a bacon and brown sugar mixture, while Heinz’s beans are in tomato sauce.

Tomato soup

Ragu Old World Style Traditional Sauce in the US and Dolmio Original Sauce for Bolognese in the UK are made with very similar ingredients, including tomatoes, salt, sugar, onions, garlic and other spices.

But the American sauce has more calories, fat, carbohydrates and sugar for the same serving size. Ragu sauce has Dolmio sauce for sodium, however, with more than half.

MacDonald’s Big Mac

All large Macs are not created equal. The US version has more calories, fat, carbohydrates and sugar than the UK version, which has more salt and protein.

Although the ingredients are the same – sesame seed bun, two beef patties, grilled lettuce, Big Mac sauce, cheese, pickle slices and onions – US-style pickles contain an emulsifier polysorbate 80, which can contribute to inflammation and swelling. risk of Crohn’s disease.

a Pret A Manger egg salad sandwich

Pret’s Egg Salad & Arugula Sandwich in the US has twice as many calories, twice as much fat, slightly more carbs, twice as much sugar and less fiber than Pret Free-Range Egg Mayo in the UK.

A Pret spokesperson notes that the US version is 25% larger.

“We offer a smaller (half) version for customers who want to enjoy this recipe but want a lighter bite,” a spokesperson told The Post. “We also offer ingredients from different suppliers, which can affect the difference in nutrition.”

The UK edition has a lot of salt.

Skippy peanut butter

It’s not all bad news in America: the Yanks’ peanut butter compares favorably with the Brits’ version.

Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter in the US has less sugar and salt and fewer calories than Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter in the UK – but more fat and carbohydrates.

The main difference is the US version with soybean oil, which has been shown to reduce cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of heart disease, but high consumption is linked to obesity and diabetes.