IS AMERICAN FOOD REALLY UNHEALTHIER THAN BRITISH FOOD?

New York Post

 

Is American food really unhealthier? How pasta sauce, peanut butter and even Big Macs stack up to their British counterparts

By Tracy Swartz

Published Nov. 26, 2024, 6:00 a.m. ET

 

So much for happy meals.

 

The quality of ultraprocessed American fare — especially President-elect Donald Trump’s beloved Big Macs — is receiving new scrutiny thanks to Trump’s nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

 

Kennedy has made headlines for calling legal food additives “poison” and criticizing the ingredients in Froot Loops, but long before he campaigned for president, sites like Food Babe were highlighting alarming differences in American ultraprocessed foods versus their overseas counterparts.

 

The Post took its own look at the nutritional labels of three US food staples — baked beans, tomato sauce and peanut butter — comparing their ingredients, calories, fat and salt content to similar UK products to see if we’re getting royally screwed.

 

We also put the nutritional info for McDonald’s Big Macs and Pret A Manger’s egg salad sandwich side by side — and shockingly, even the seemingly identical products weren’t quite the same.

 

Darin Detwiler, an assistant teaching professor of food policy at Northeastern University, told The Post he’s unable to eat certain US foods like bread because of the processing it undergoes. But he has no problem noshing the bread in Amsterdam and other parts of Europe.

 

Travelers have noted on social media that they have lost weight visiting Europe, even while eating seemingly “unhealthy” foods like bread and cheese. And while it may be that they are walking more on their vacation — or eating smaller portion sizes — many have speculated that the difference comes down to the quality of the food they’re served.

 

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

 

“American companies tend to make food that is fit for the average healthy American adult, whereas we have many vulnerable populations — the very young, the elderly, those with a compromised immune system and those who are pregnant,” Detwiler said.

 

“When it comes to why you don’t see certain ingredients in foods when it’s in Canada or in Europe, it’s because [the companies there are] basing that on the more vulnerable victim,” added Detwiler, who has advised the US Food and Drug Administration. “And if you’re responsible to all people, then you look at the idea of your baseline being the ones that need … the most consideration.”

 

Europe is said to take a more cautious approach to food safety than the US, which has a federal “loophole” that allows food companies to determine which substances are “generally recognized as safe.”

 

More than 10,000 chemicals and additives are permitted in US food while the European Union just allows over 300 food additives.

 

For example, the EU banned titanium dioxide in food over concerns it can damage DNA. In response to the 2022 move, US candy company Mars reformulated its Skittles recipe to remove the coloring agent for sale in Europe. Titanium dioxide is still an ingredient in US Skittles since it’s approved by the FDA.

 

“What I don’t understand is, why is it that American companies are OK with making and distributing healthier versions of their box of cereal or whatever to Canada and to the EU, but not doing that for here in the United States?” Detwiler wondered. “That, to me, is problematic, and I think that there’s going to have to be some questions that are raised and addressed 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 coincidentally, ultraprocessed foods — which tend to be filled with calories, sugar, salt and fat — make up nearly 60% of the typical US adult diet.

 

Even amid the obesity epidemic, Detwiler and other experts say that RFK Jr. faces an uphill battle within the industry and among consumers in making sweeping changes to ingredients in American food.

 

“It’s gonna be challenging, for sure. I mean, we’ve definitely created a monster with the sugary and processed food options we have,” Jamie Maitland, certified holistic nutritionist, author of “The 21 Day Reset Cookbook” and founder of The Office Health, told The Post.

 

Maitland attributes the resistance to change to cultural traditions, preferences and convenience, noting that American “foods are often designed to have a longer shelf life for mass production, that have lower costs, which leads to more complex ingredient lists that are unfortunately filled with preservatives, artificial flavorings.”

 

Sotiria Everett, clinical assistant professor at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, hopes that fresh discussions about American diets increase awareness about the foods we eat.

 

“Most people don’t read labels. They just eat something because something on the front of the package might make a statement or a claim that interests them, [like] ‘vitamin C’ or ‘source of whole grains,'” Everett said. “But when you actually turn that package around and see that while there are whole grains, there are also 40 grams of sugar, it’s not the best option.”

 

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

 

Baked beans

A 100-gram serving of Bush’s Original Baked Beans has about three dozen more calories; about twice as many carbs, sodium, and sugar; and almost four times as much fat as Heinz baked beans from the UK.

 

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

 

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

 

But the American sauce has more calories, fat, carbs and sugar for the same serving size. The Ragu sauce does have the Dolmio sauce beat for sodium, though, with just over half as much.

 

McDonald’s Big Mac

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

 

Though the ingredients are similar — sesame seed bun, two all-beef patties, shredded lettuce, Big Mac sauce, cheese, pickle slices and onions — the pickles in the US version contain the emulsifier polysorbate 80, which may contribute to gut inflammation and increase the risk of Crohn’s disease.

 

Pret A Manger’s egg salad sandwich

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

 

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

 

“We offer a slim (half) version for customers who want to enjoy this recipe but are looking for a lighter bite,” the spokesperson told The Post. “We also source ingredients from different suppliers, which would also have an impact on nutritional differences.”

 

The UK edition has much more salt.

 

Skippy peanut butter

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

 

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

 

The major difference is the US version contains soybean oil, which has been shown to lower cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of heart disease, but consumption of large amounts has been linked to obesity and diabetes.