- [Narrator] You may enjoy going
out for a burger and fries, or a late-night taco or two, but you probably don't know the fast food companies' secrets. You might just think twice
about that fast food run after you hear what may be
lurking in the soda machine, what your chicken nuggets
are really made of or what all the junk food
can do to your brain. Whilst everyone realizes that fast food isn't exactly
the healthiest thing, I must admit you'll be shocked when you hear about these secrets and the studies that back them up. (gentle chiming music)
- [Man] Amazing! - [Narrator] Number 15, how
to get it at its freshest. If you've ever wondered
what makes fast food, well, fast, here's the answer, these restaurants prepare for busy times by having a lot of hot
food ready for peak hours, like rush hour when everyone gets off work and rushes for the nearest
drive-through for dinner. So if you place your
order around this time, you'll probably get the
food at its freshest, but a few hours later,
when things've slowed down, your food may be a little less fresh. Many companies have
timers telling employees when to dump the food
and make it from new, but sometimes they forget,
or just don't do it. Here's a tip to get the freshest food and save yourself some sodium. Order your fries without salt and they'll make a fresh batch since most are normally
automatically salted. For other foods, just ask nicely for them
to make it from fresh and hope for the best. Number 14, how fries are made. You could just skip the fries altogether, wait, what? Skip the goodness of fried potatoes? Yes, because in reality McDonald's fries contain 19 ingredients, according to MythBusters' Grant Imahara who got a behind-the-scenes look at McDonald's fry production. The lengthy list includes
flavor enhancers, antifoaming agent, to keep
the grease from splattering, and another aimed at keeping
the potatoes from going gray. The fries are partially
fried before being frozen, then fried later at the restaurant, basically they're potatoes, and 18 other ingredients. Number 13, only about half of your nugget is actually chicken. We all love chicken nuggets, but do you know what's really in them? Most people would say
chicken and breading, turns out they're only about
50% chicken meat at best. Dr. Richard deShazo, of the University of
Mississippi Medical Center, studied some and found only
about half the nugget was meat while the rest was fat, blood vessels, nerve tissue and ground bone, stuff that typically goes into dog food. It only gets less healthy
due to breading and frying and with so little meat, it's a better source of fat than protein, so go have another order of nuggets, unless you're too chicken. Number 12, soda machines
are bacteria ridden. When stopping at your
local fast food place for a quick burger and fries, you probably enjoy a nice, cold beverage
from the soda fountain. Unfortunately, some
fast food soda machines may be contaminated with
coliform bacteria and E. coli. A study from Hollins
University in Roanoke, Virginia found 48% of soda fountain beverages contained coliform, a bacteria most commonly
found in human feces and 11% contained E.coli. This obviously isn't the
case with all machines, but it appears at least
a few people ignore those all employees must wash hands signs. The self service machines
you use in the lobby may also be infected with mold which likes to grow in moist places such as a drinks machine. But you can check for yourself. All you have to do is
peer into the ice chute and check for signs of
anything growing in there. Number 11, don't be
first through the doors. On the other hand, if you arrive
first thing in the morning your meal may be a little too clean. According to Dr. Oz, most restaruants clean
with strong chemicals when they close at night and these can linger the next morning on drink machines and other
cooking utensils or machines. Those bubbles in your smoothie are probably there from stirring, but it's possible they're
caused by traces of soap. The early bird may not get the worm, but he may get some detergent
in his morning coffee. Number 10, food sources
are rarely inspected. You may think the FDA is
staying on top of food safety in every local restaurant,
but they're a busy agency and can't be everywhere all the time. According to a 2010 report from the Department of
Health and Human Services, 56% of food facilities have
gone five or more years without an FDA inspection. This includes fast food
restaruants themselves, plus some suppliers like meat producers. If you think things look
bad in a local restaurant, it can't hurt to complain
to your local office. They may be quicker to make a visit if they receive a large
number of local complaints concerning a particular restaurant. Number nine, even the
healthy fast food places really aren't. Maybe you think you're
choosing the healthy fast food by going to Subway instead of McDonald's, but not so fast. Dr. Leonard Lesser, a public
health scholar at UCLA conducted a study where he sent nearly a hundred adolescents
to eat at the two restaurants, then tracked what they
ordered by their receipts. He found that the McDonald's
meals averaged 1083 calories, but the Subway meals weren't
too far behind at 955 calories. It's important to note that
Subway's Fresh Fit menu offers sandwiches with 230-500 calories, but it appears not many people
in the study ordered those. The average Subway sandwich
actually had 784 calories, higher than the average McDonald's
sandwich at 582 calories. However, Subway's side items averaged fewer calories
than the McDonald's sides. Subway's sandwiches were higher in sodium, while the McDonald's were higher in sugar. Overall, you're probably
better off just eating at home. Number eight, but if you do got to Subway, at least save some money. If you still want to go to Subway, here's something else that
they may not want you to know. When you order two six-inch subs, say, one for you and one for a friend, it's much cheaper to order a footlong and customize each half. According to the Krazy Coupon Lady, who sounds very sane and trustworthy, you can't change the bread or meat, but you can customize condiments, cheese and produce on each sandwich. Although the footlongs
aren't actually a foot long, you'll still get a lot more
sandwich for your money. While you're at it, just order a 60 cent cup of water instead of paying $2 for
a plastic bottle of water. Number seven, fast food
junk is bad for your brain. You know fast food isn't healthy, but did you know it's bad for your brain as well as your waistline? One study in the Journal
of Clinical Investigation found fatty foods damaged
they hypothalamus, which controls hunger,
thirst, sleep and moods. They can make you crave more food and contribute to weight gain. Researchers from the
Australian National University and Deakin University found people who eat a
Western, or unhealthy, diet with lots of sugary drinks, high sodium snacks and processed meat have smaller hippocampi. The hippocampus is the part of the brain responsible for mental
health, learning and memory. Hopefully you'll remember the threat of shrinking your hippocampus and not the taste of a burger the next time you head to
the fast food drive-through. Number six, McDonald's burgers look the same 20 years later. If you've ever wished you could savor your burger even longer you may have been onto something. A Utah man named David Whipple bought a hamburger from McDonald's in 1999 and decided to save it for a few weeks to see what it would look like. Then he forgot about it
until a couple of years later when he found it in a coat pocket and discovered it hadn't rotted at all. This phenomenon has been seen
with other McDonald's burgers and some people believe it's due to the many preservatives put into the food. But the burger chain claims this is due to a loss of moisture during
the cooking process so the burger just dries out
further instead of rotting. Either way, we suggest
just eating your burgers straightaway when you get them. Number five, fast food
today is worse for you than it was 30 years ago. While that one burger may not change in appearance for years, there have been changes in just how unhealthy fast
food is over the years. According to Eat This, Not That! Authors a cheeseburger has 75% more
calories than it did in the '80s and french fries have 190% more calories. Pizza also has 70% more calories. Part of this is related
to supersizing everything. And additional toppings and
dressings can add more calories. Unless you want to
supersize your waistline, it's best to skip the supersize
option at fast food places, even if it is slightly more economical. Try to avoid asking for extra
bacon, cheese and dressing and request extra lettuce or other vegetables on
your burger instead. Number four, the sugar
content is colossal. It's sort of a no-brainer, but you most likely have no idea the extent to which this is true. In the United States, the
recommended daily sugar intake is about nine teaspoons for men and 6 teaspoons for women. A strawberry milkshake
from McDonald's contains about 20 teaspoons. Even smoothies, which sound healthy, often have an unhealthy amount of sugar, as do with some non-sweet items like pizza and salad dressing. The Premium Asian Salad at McDonald's has three teaspoons of sugar and the healthy Fruit and
Maple Oatmeal has eight. That's not a sweet deal at all. When dining on fast food, look
at the online nutrition info and speed past anything
with a large dose of sugar. It's bad for your body and
even worse for your teeth. Number three, good gravy. If you enjoy the gravy at KFC, you may be surprised to learn
it's older than you think. According to the 2015 BBC documentary, The Billion Dollar Chicken Shop, KFC uses chicken meat
that's up to five days old in its gravy. The chicken is fried in rapeseed oil, which is reused up to five times. Then the scraps of
chicken left in the fryer are added to the gravy. It appears even the chicken
wants to ride the gravy train to the end of the line. Number two, wasteful
fast food restaruants. Of course, not every fast food place is so focused on saving money, er, conscientious about
recycling its food. A study by the University
of Arizona showed that fast food restaruants actually throw out about 9.6% of the food used while regular eateries
only toss about 3.1%. In fact, fast food restaruants produce more than 85 million pounds
of food waste every day. Overall the fast food drive-through is a fast track for wasted
food to reach a landfill. Number one, the grill
marks on meat may be fake. You may find your mouth watering
when you see a hamburger ad with those freshly seared
grill marks on the meat. I hate to scorch this nice image, but it turns out those
grill lines may be fake. According to the Food Republic website, these are usually on the burger before it's even cooked. They're branded on, or sometimes
painted on with food dye before the meat is sent to the restaurant. The fast food place can then
add their own grill marks, or just toss that frozen
patty into a microwave and call it good. What's the biggest surprise you've ever had at a fast food restaurant? Do you know any other interesting fast food facts or studies? Let me know in the comment
section down below. Also, if you enjoyed this video, please make sure to drop
it a like and subscribe, clicking that bell icon to stay notified. Thanks for watching. (gentle chiming music)
