Fatty Stats

Count on Nate Silver to bring some perspective to the Double Down debate.  That's right--the guru of numbers, first with baseball and now with politics at fivethirtyeight.com has posted on whether the controversial new KFC sandwich is that bad for you.

I am just tickled that Silver has moved to address this key question.
And his answer is:

• Double Down is no more caloric than other fast food sandwiches, and actually contains less calories than many.  
• It does have twice has much cholesterol than the Big Mac
• It does have more than half of the sodium one should have in a day.
• And half the daily allotment of fat--32 grams

Of course, this is not sufficient for the man o' graphic stats.  So, he creates an index scaled so that the DD is 1.0 (the grilled is a smidge worse for you than the original recipe).  The worst: Panera's Chipotle Chicken, surprise , surpsie.  McD's chicken with ranch is second.  Nooooo!!!!  I am most saddened that Chipotle's Chicken Burrito and Boston Market are next.  Burger King's chicken tendercrisp is the same as the DD.  Subway's Chicken/Bacon Ranch and McD's Crispy Club are healtheir.  McNuggets are better still.  The best: McChicken, KFC Buffalo Snacker and Subways 12' Oven Roasted.  The wrost of all, including non-chicken: Wendy's triple baconator (no surprise there), Hardee's Monster, and BK's Quad Stacker.
Ironically, because the DD has less calories, it performs the worst on bad stuff/calorie, with Chipotle's looking much better and Subway even better still.The scientific conclusion:

So, is the Double Down the most gluttonous fast food sandwich ever created? It depends on how you measure it. At the margins, consuming one Double Down almost certainly isn't as bad for you as a Triple Baconator, a Thickburger, or even a fully-loaded Chipotle burrito. But while those products should, in theory, fill you up for at least half the day, the Double Down might leave you hankering for seconds. It's a high bar to clear, but it's the closest thing to pure junk food of any "sandwich" being marketed today.

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