Double cheeseburger: no composition record, one test meal, and the salt

We have no USDA or UK composition record for a double cheeseburger in this cohort, so this page cannot tell you from data how much energy, fat or salt one holds. What can be said comes from the parts and from how the thing is cooked. Salt has the clearest dose response of those parts. Pooling 43 randomised trials run between 1983 and 2024, blood pressure tracked salt intake in a graded way across the intake categories the review used, higher intake with higher pressure and lower intake with larger reductions. That pooled analysis reports no millimetre-of-mercury figure at all, and its exploratory continuous trend across studies was not statistically significant, which is weaker than the grading sounds. The single study in our corpus that names the dish uses it as a test meal. Twenty-six obese women ate the same 744 kcal meal, a double cheeseburger with a banana, yogurt and water, in 5 minutes on one day and in 30 minutes on the next. Reflux episodes over the following three hours came out the same either way, in the 16 women with normal 24-hour monitoring and the 10 with pathological monitoring alike. That is 26 women at one centre, and a null result in a sample that size cannot exclude a small effect. Even the size of the thing moves. The US food survey records 165 g for the McDonald's item, 205 g for two small patties on a white bun and 330 g for two large patties on a wheat bun, all under the same name.

What a real portion looks like

• A double cheeseburger is not one size. Under the same name the US food survey counts 165 g for the McDonald's item, 205 g for two small patties on a white bun and 330 g for two large patties on a wheat bun, a twofold spread. — USDA FNDDS 2021-2023 household measures, 11 double cheeseburger records in the Burgers category (n = 11 FNDDS records) Evidence E source
  Double cheeseburger (McDonalds), FNDDS code 27510387, 1 item 165 g. On white bun, 2 small patties, code 27510254, 205 g. On wheat bun, 2 large patties, code 27510263, 330 g

What cooking and storage change

• Almost no restaurant measures whether a burger is cooked through. Across 385 restaurants in eight US states, 81% judged doneness by look or feel and 49% said they never take the final cook temperature. — 385 restaurants that prepare and serve hamburgers in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Minnesota, New York, Oregon and Tennessee, manager interviews plus direct observation of preparation (n = 385 restaurants) Evidence C source
  81% determined doneness by one or more subjective measures, 49% never measured final cook temperature, at least two risky handling practices observed in 53%, only 1% bought irradiated ground beef and 29% had not heard of it

What it does to your health

• In a randomised crossover of single laboratory meals matched for energy and macronutrients, being ultra-processed did not by itself make 40 young adults eat more. The ultra-processed meal of low nutritional quality was eaten least, 503 kcal against 586 kcal for the non-ultra-processed one. — 40 healthy young adults, mean age 24.7 years, 70% women, mean BMI 25.3, each eating all three matched meals in random order (n = 40) Evidence B source
  Energy intake 585.7 ± 163 kcal non-ultra-processed high quality, 609.7 ± 151.8 kcal ultra-processed high quality, 503.0 ± 164.1 kcal ultra-processed low quality; energy intake rate 67.7 ± 23.1 kcal/min for the ultra-processed high quality meal against 54.1 ± 18.4 kcal/min for the non-ultra-processed one
• In 26 obese women the same 744 kcal meal built around a double cheeseburger, eaten in 5 minutes or in 30, showed no difference in the number of reflux episodes over the following 3 hours. — 26 obese women, mean age 46, mean BMI 39.9, each eating the meal at both speeds in random order on two consecutive days with impedance-pH monitoring (n = 26) Evidence B source
  No difference in reflux episodes over 3 postprandial hours between eating in 5 minutes and in 30, in the 16 women with normal and the 10 with pathological 24-hour monitoring alike; the test meal was 744 kcal, 37.6% carbohydrate, 21.2% protein, 41.2% fat

Safety, limits and interactions

• Salt is the part of a double cheeseburger with the clearest dose response. Pooling 43 randomised trials run between 1983 and 2024, blood pressure tracked salt intake in a graded way across the intake categories the review used, higher intake with higher blood pressure and lower intake with larger reductions. — 43 randomised controlled trials from inception to December 2024, no language restriction, adults with and without hypertension (n = 43 randomised controlled trials) Evidence A source
  Higher salt intake associated with higher blood pressure and lower intake with larger reductions, graded across the three intake categories; the exploratory continuous trend across studies was not statistically significant
• WHO sets the ceiling a double cheeseburger runs into: saturated fat at 10% of total energy for adults and children, a strong recommendation, which is about 22 g a day on a 2000 kcal diet. — adults and children, global WHO guidance, 2023 Evidence E source
  Saturated fatty acid intake reduced to 10% of total energy (strong recommendation), further reduction below 10% conditional; randomised trials showed greater risk reduction with greater cuts, moderate certainty
• The same WHO guideline says what to put in place of the saturated fat. Replacing it with polyunsaturated fat, monounsaturated fat or fibre-rich carbohydrate lowered LDL cholesterol in trials at every level from 24% of energy down to 2%. — adults, evidence from randomised and strictly controlled feeding trials reviewed for the WHO guideline Evidence E source
  Replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat, monounsaturated fat or carbohydrate lowered LDL cholesterol, high certainty evidence, cumulatively and across intakes from 2% to 24% of total energy

The bottom line

The ceiling this dish runs into is a whole-day one. WHO recommends that adults and children hold saturated fat to 10 percent of total energy, a strong recommendation, which is about 22 g a day on a 2000 kcal diet, and it is guidance for a day of eating rather than a verdict on one sandwich. The same guideline is specific about the replacement. Swapping saturated fat for polyunsaturated fat, monounsaturated fat or carbohydrate lowered LDL cholesterol in randomised and strictly controlled feeding trials at every level from 24 percent of energy down to 2 percent, at high certainty, and LDL is a laboratory marker rather than a count of heart attacks. What was tested is a swap. Dropping the burger without deciding what takes its place is a different question, and nobody has answered it here. About the cooking there is one solid and uncomfortable finding. In 385 restaurants across eight US states, 81 percent judged hamburger doneness by look or feel, and 49 percent said they never measure the final cook temperature. Observers recorded at least two risky ground beef handling practices in 53 percent of those kitchens. Managers described their own policies, each restaurant was watched for a single preparation, and the survey is now more than a decade old, so read it as the habit of an industry rather than as the state of the grill in front of you. One popular explanation did not survive its own test. Forty young adults ate three matched meals in random order, and the ultra-processed meal of low nutritional quality was the one they ate least of, 503 kcal against 586 kcal for the non-ultra-processed meal. Being ultra-processed was not by itself enough to make them eat more. The ultra-processed meal they did like went down faster, 67.7 kcal a minute against 54.1. Those were single laboratory meals matched for energy and macronutrients, which a fast food meal chosen because you like it is not. On who should be careful, this page is thin and says so. The evidence here reaches salt, saturated fat and how the beef is cooked, and stops. We found nothing in the corpus about this dish in pregnancy, in children or in kidney disease, and no drug interaction rows, which is silence rather than clearance.

Sources

1. dcb-daily-r1-07 · reference dataset
   FNDDS 2706914 Double cheeseburger (McDonalds), Burgers, FNDDS code 27510387 - 1 double cheeseburger 165 g. FNDDS 2706905 Double cheeseburger, on white bun, 2 small patties, FNDDS code 27510254 - 1 double cheeseburger 205 g. FNDDS 2706911 Double cheeseburger, on wheat bun, 2 large patties, FNDDS code 27510263 - 1 double cheeseburger 330 g
   USDA FNDDS 2021-2023 · checked 2026-09-24
2. dcb-daily-r1-05 · cross-sectional survey of restaurants with observation
   Eighty-one percent of restaurants reported determining doneness of hamburgers by one or more subjective measures, and 49% reported that they never measure the final cook temperatures of hamburgers. At least two risky ground beef handling practices were observed in 53% of restaurants.
   J Food Prot, 2013 · checked 2026-09-24
3. dcb-daily-r1-02 · randomised crossover trial
   EI was similar for NUPF-HNQ (585.7 ± 163 kcal) and UPF-HNQ (609.7 ± 151.8 kcal) but significantly lower for UPF-LNQ (503.0 ± 164.1 kcal). ... EIR was higher for UPF-HNQ (67.7 ± 23.1 kcal/min) than NUPF-HNQ (54.1 ± 18.4 kcal/min) and UPF-LNQ (50.1 ± 15.1 kcal/min).
   Appetite, 2026 · checked 2026-09-24
4. dcb-daily-r1-06 · randomised crossover trial
   All patients were asked to eat the same standard meal (double cheeseburger, 1 banana, 100 g yogurt and 200 mL water; total energy value, 744 kcal; 37.6% carbohydrates, 21.2% proteins and 41.2% lipids) within 5 or 30 minutes under observation in a random order on two consecutive days. ... There was no difference between the fast- and slow-eating group in the number of refluxes within the 3-postprandial hours.
   Dis Esophagus, 2017 · checked 2026-09-24
5. dcb-daily-r1-01 · systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
   Across 43 randomized controlled trials (1983-2024), higher amounts of salt intake were associated with higher BP, whereas lower intake was associated with larger BP reductions, demonstrating a graded association across intake categories.
   Nutr Rev, 2026 · checked 2026-09-24
6. dcb-daily-r1-03 · WHO guideline
   WHO recommends that adults and children reduce saturated fatty acid intake to 10% of total energy intake (strong recommendation). ... As assessed in RCTs, reducing SFA intake reduced the risk of CVDs in adults (moderate certainty evidence); greater reductions in SFA intake resulted in greater reduction in risk.
   WHO guideline: Saturated fatty acid and trans-fatty acid intake for adults and children, 2023 · checked 2026-09-24
7. dcb-daily-r1-04 · WHO guideline
   As assessed in RCTs and strictly controlled feeding trials, replacing SFA with polyunsaturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids and carbohydrates all resulted in reductions in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol in adults (high certainty evidence).
   WHO guideline: Saturated fatty acid and trans-fatty acid intake for adults and children, 2023 · checked 2026-09-24