Doughnuts: what the studies actually tested

A doughnut is a treat, and the studies behind this page are either small trials or observation. A jelly doughnut weighs about 80 g in the US dietary survey, which comes to about 270 kcal. In a randomised trial, 28 inactive men with overweight ate two doughnuts a day, six days a week, for four weeks: 48 doughnuts and about 14,500 kcal on top of their usual food. The men who did no added exercise gained no weight and no body fat, partly because they reported eating 239 kcal a day less of everything else. That group was 9 men, the drop in eating was self-reported, and it lasted one month, so it tells you about appetite in a few people and nothing about a safe daily number. The evidence on the worrying side is of the same modest kind. Men who ate doughnuts at least once a week had 35 percent higher odds of prostate cancer in a case-control study of 3041 men, where diet was reported on a questionnaire, as in any case-control study, and the authors could not separate frying from a Western lifestyle in general. A meta-analysis of 17 cohorts with more than 875,000 people found no statistically significant link between refined grain foods and cardiovascular disease, pooling 9 cohorts whose results disagreed a lot. Doughnuts were counted among those foods but never looked at on their own. Everything here is observation or a small trial. We found no large trial on doughnuts, and nothing on this page is settled.

The numbers, per 100 g

How much is actually in it

• In a laboratory survey of 208 common foods in Egypt, 34% exceeded 2 g of trans fat per 100 g of fat, and oriental sweets carried three times the trans fat content of doughnuts. — 208 commonly consumed food products from major Egyptian governorates (n = 208 products) Evidence C source
  34% above the 2 g TFA/100 g fat limit; oriental sweets TFA 3 times that of doughnuts
• Across 9 US doughnut records, energy runs from 340 to 452 kcal per 100 g, fat from 18.3 to 25.25 g and sugars from 14.55 to 35.11 g, with filled yeast doughnuts at the low end and frosted cake doughnuts at the top. — 9 USDA SR Legacy doughnut records (n = 1 value per record, no Foundation samples) Evidence E source
  Jelly-filled yeast 340 kcal, 18.7 g fat, 21.1 g sugars; cream-filled 361 kcal, 24.5 g fat, 14.55 g sugars; glazed yeast 421 kcal; plain cake 434 kcal, 24.93 g fat; frosted cake 452 kcal, 25.25 g fat; french cruller 412 kcal, 35.11 g sugars
• A UK jam doughnut has 321 kcal and 13.1 g fat per 100 g against 340 kcal and 18.7 g fat for a US jelly doughnut, and the UK table also measures 0.11 g trans fat per 100 g, a figure the US records lack. — Doughnuts, yeast-leavened, with jelly filling (FDC 172759) against Doughnuts, with jam (CoFID 11-849) (n = 1 USDA record, 1 CoFID record) Evidence E source
  Energy 340 vs 321 kcal; fat 18.7 vs 13.1 g; carbohydrate 39.0 vs 48.4 g; sodium 455 vs 404 mg; trans fat not recorded vs 0.11 g per 100 g

What a real portion looks like

• A doughnut weighs 75 g in the US dietary survey database, a jelly doughnut 80 g and a doughnut hole 15 g, so one jelly doughnut at 340 kcal per 100 g is about 270 kcal. — household measures for Doughnut NFS, Doughnut jelly and Doughnut holes in FNDDS (n = 5, 3 and 2 household measures) Evidence E source
  1 doughnut 75 g; 1 miniature 15 g; 1 jelly doughnut 80 g; 1 doughnut hole 15 g

What your body absorbs

• Drinking a bottle of water together with a jelly doughnut raised blood glucose to 7.2 mmol/L against 5.4 mmol/L for the doughnut alone in 35 healthy young adults, while water taken 30 minutes before or after made no such difference. — 35 healthy young volunteers randomised to 5 groups of 7 (n = 35) Evidence B source
  Postprandial glucose 7.2 vs fasting 4.9 mmol/L with water at the meal, against 5.4 vs 4.6 without water and 5.5 with water 30 min before or after

What cooking and storage change

• In the US, partially hydrogenated oils, once the main source of artificial trans fat in fried and baked foods, lost their safe status and could not be added to foods after 18 June 2018 for most uses. — all foods sold in the US Evidence E source
  PHOs no longer GRAS; most uses banned after 18 June 2018, final compliance 1 January 2021

What it does to your health

• In the 9 men of the no-exercise arm, adding 48 doughnuts over 4 weeks (about 14,500 kcal) did not raise body weight or body fat, partly because they reported eating 239 kcal a day less. — 28 physically inactive men aged 19-47 with BMI 25 or more, 2 doughnuts a day, 6 days a week, 4 weeks (n = 28) Evidence B source
  No gain in body weight, body fat or visceral fat in controls; habitual intake -239 kcal/day (p=0.05); fasting glucose, insulin, lipids unchanged
• In a meta-analysis of 17 prospective cohorts (more than 875,000 people), the 9 cohorts that reported cardiovascular disease showed no significant link with refined grain intake (HR 1.08, 95% CI 0.99-1.18), including studies that counted indulgent grain foods such as doughnuts. — 17 prospective cohort studies, more than 875,000 participants (n = 875000+) Evidence C source
  CVD HR 1.08 (0.99-1.18), I2 70%, 9 cohorts; stroke HR 1.06 (0.92-1.23), heart failure HR 0.95 (0.77-1.16)

Safety, limits and interactions

• Men who ate doughnuts once a week or more had 35% higher odds of prostate cancer than those eating them less than weekly (OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.11-1.66) in a study of 1549 cases and 1492 controls. — 1549 men with prostate cancer and 1492 controls (n = 3041) Evidence C source
  Doughnuts >=1/week vs <1/week OR 1.35 (1.11-1.66); French fries OR 1.37; snack chips OR 1.08 (not significant)
• In a norovirus outbreak linked to a bakery in Canberra, 215 of the 301 people surveyed, mostly complainants and their contacts, reported vomiting or diarrhoea after eating its doughnuts, and at one function eating a filled doughnut carried an odds ratio of 10.4. — 301 food poisoning complainants and contacts surveyed after buying doughnuts from one business; case-control among 59 attendees of a catered function (n = 301) Evidence C source
  215 of 301 reported vomiting or diarrhoea; attack rate 46% (27/59); filled doughnut OR 10.4 (1.18-478.13); 8 of 11 stool samples norovirus positive

Who this works differently for

• In 3414 pregnant women in Washington State, eating doughnuts around conception was not significantly linked to gestational diabetes, whereas more than one serving a month of fried fish went with 68% higher risk. — 3414 women in a prospective birth cohort, Seattle and Tacoma (n = 3414) Evidence C source
  Doughnuts: no significant association; fried fish >1 serving/month RR 1.68 (1.16-2.45); fried chicken RR 1.81 (1.22-2.70)

The bottom line

The word doughnut covers a wide range. Across nine US records, 100 g runs from 340 kcal for a jelly-filled yeast doughnut to 452 kcal for a frosted cake doughnut, and sugars from 14.55 g in a cream-filled one to 35.11 g in a glazed french cruller. If you want the lighter end, a filled yeast doughnut sits lower than a cake one. Trans fat is the gap in our own table. The US records carry no trans fat figure at all and are older than the 2018 US ban on partially hydrogenated oils, the oils that used to be the main source of artificial trans fat in fried and baked food. The UK table does measure it, 0.11 g per 100 g in a jam doughnut. In a 2021 survey of 208 foods in Egypt, which the authors used to call for legislation, oriental sweets carried three times the trans fat of doughnuts, and the paper gives no figure for doughnuts themselves. One small trial found something odd about drinking. A bottle of water drunk with a jelly doughnut pushed blood sugar to 7.2 mmol/L against 5.4 mmol/L for the doughnut alone, and water 30 minutes before or after made no difference. That was 7 people per group in a single study, and we found no repeat of it, so it is too early to change how you drink. The clearest harm we found has nothing to do with the recipe. After a norovirus outbreak linked to a bakery in Canberra, 215 of the 301 people surveyed, who were mostly those who had complained, reported vomiting or diarrhoea, and the investigators judged the likely source to be an ill food handler. At one catered function, eating a filled doughnut raised the odds of falling ill about tenfold, with a very wide margin of error. For pregnancy, 3414 women in Washington State showed no statistically significant link between doughnuts around conception and gestational diabetes, while fried fish and fried chicken did show one. Some questions this page cannot answer. We hold no study on doughnuts in people with diabetes or in children, and none on allergens, so for those questions the label and your own doctor are better guides than this page.

Sources

1. dnt-b5-06 · cross-sectional market survey with laboratory analysis
   Products having more than 2 g of TFA/100 g of fat were considered to have an elevated TFA content. Commonly consumed food items (n = 208) in the Egyptian market were identified. On average, 34% of the products exceeded the TFA limit. ... Oriental sweets had a TFA content three times higher than that of doughnuts. ... This calls for urgent legislative action to regulate composition.
   Nutrients, 2021 · checked 2026-09-23
2. dnt-b5-08 · reference dataset
   Doughnuts, yeast-leavened, with jelly filling (FDC 172759) - Energy 340 KCAL - Fat 18.7 G - Sugars 21.1 G | Doughnuts, yeast-leavened, with creme filling (FDC 172757) - Energy 361 KCAL - Fat 24.5 G - Sugars 14.55 G | Doughnuts, yeast-leavened, glazed, enriched (FDC 172758) - Energy 421 KCAL - Fat 22.7 G | Doughnuts, cake-type, plain (FDC 174990) - Energy 434 KCAL - Fat 24.93 G | Doughnuts, cake-type, plain, chocolate-coated or frosted (FDC 174991) - Energy 452 KCAL - Fat 25.25 G | Doughnuts, french crullers, glazed (FDC 172756) - Energy 412 KCAL - Sugars 35.11 G
   USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy records 172756-172759, 174990-174993, 175062 · checked 2026-09-23
3. dnt-b5-09 · reference dataset
   Doughnuts, yeast-leavened, with jelly filling (FDC 172759) - Energy 340 KCAL - Fat 18.7 G - Carbohydrate 39.0 G - Sodium 455 MG | CoFID 11-849 Doughnuts, with jam - Energy 321 kcal - Fat 13.1 g - Carbohydrate 48.4 g - Sodium 404 mg - Trans FAs /100g food 0.11 g
   USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy record 172759, with UK CoFID 2021 (Public Health England, OGL v3.0) · checked 2026-09-23
4. dnt-b5-10 · reference dataset
   Doughnut, NFS - FNDDS 53520000 - 1 doughnut 75 g - 1 miniature 15 g - 1 stick/twist 75 g | Doughnut, jelly - FNDDS 53521140 - 1 doughnut 80 g | Doughnut holes - FNDDS 53520170 - 1 doughnut hole 15 g
   USDA FNDDS, food codes 53520000, 53521140, 53520170 · checked 2026-09-23
5. dnt-b5-01 · randomised controlled trial
   PPG versus fasting glucose (Means ± SD, mmol/L) was for group A 5.4 ± 0.6 vs 4.6 ± 0.4, B 7.2 ± 0.7 vs 4.9 ± 0.4, C 5.5 ± 0.7 vs 4.4 ± 0.3, D 5.5 ± 0.6 vs 4.6 ± 0.3 and E 5.7 ± 0.5 vs 4.7 ± 0.2. The increase in group B was significantly higher than in all other groups (ANOVA, Dunnet's posttest).
   Clin Nutr ESPEN, 2018 · checked 2026-09-23
6. dnt-b5-11 · regulation
   PHOs, then the major source of artificial trans fat in the food supply, are no longer 'Generally Recognized as Safe,' or GRAS. ... For the majority of uses of PHOs, June 18, 2018, was the date after which manufacturers could not add PHOs to foods.
   US FDA, Trans Fat · checked 2026-09-23
7. dnt-b5-02 · randomised controlled trial
   consumed 48 donuts (2/day, 6 days/week; ~14,500 kcal total) for 4 weeks while maintaining habitual diet. ... Controls did not increase body weight, body fat, or visceral abdominal fat. This was partially explained by a decrease in self-reported habitual energy (-239 kcal/day, p = 0.05) and carbohydrate (-47 g/day; p = 0.02) intake. Large inter-individual variability in changes in body weight, fat, and fat-free mass was evident in all groups. Fasting blood pressure, and blood concentrations of glucose, insulin, and lipids were unchanged in all groups.
   Physiol Rep, 2021 · checked 2026-09-23
8. dnt-b5-03 · meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies
   refined grain intake was not associated with risk of CVD (HR = 1.08, 95% CI, 0.99-1.18, I2 = 70%; 9 cohorts) ... The lack of association between refined grain intake and CVD risk was observed in meta-analyses of studies that restricted analyses to only staple grain foods (e.g., bread, cereal, pasta, white rice), as well as for meta-analyses of studies that included both staple and indulgent grain foods (e.g., cakes, cookies, doughnuts, brownies, muffins, pastries). Probable confounding from unmeasured variables in studies included in the meta-analyses diminishes the overall quality of evidence.
   Trends Cardiovasc Med, 2024 · checked 2026-09-23
9. dnt-b5-05 · case-control study
   Compared with <1/week, there was a positive association with PCa risk for intake ≥1/week of French fries (OR = 1.37; 95% CI, 1.11-1.69), fried chicken (OR = 1.30; 95% CI, 1.04-1.62), fried fish (OR = 1.32; 95% CI, 1.05-1.66), and doughnuts (OR = 1.35; 95% CI, 1.11-1.66). ... Whether this risk is specific to deep-fried foods, or whether it represents risk associated with regular intake of foods exposed to high heat and/or other aspects of the Western lifestyle, such as fast food consumption, remains to be determined.
   Prostate, 2013 · checked 2026-09-23
10. dnt-b5-07 · outbreak investigation with case-control study
    Food poisoning complainants and contacts were surveyed using a standard gastroenteritis questionnaire including menu items from the food premises. ... Three hundred and one people were surveyed, and 215 individuals (71.4%) reported vomiting and/or diarrhoea following consumption of a donut purchased from the business over a five-day period. ... Eating any kind of filled donut was associated with a person becoming ill (odds ratio: 10.4; 95% confidence interval: 1.18-478.13). ... This implicated pathogen, plus evidence collected at the food premises suggestive of faecal contamination, indicates the source of this outbreak was likely an ill food handler.
    Commun Dis Intell (2018), 2022 · checked 2026-09-23
11. dnt-b5-04 · prospective cohort
    fried fish intake >1 servings/month was associated with 68% higher GDM risk (adjusted RR and 95% CI; 1.68 [1.16, 2.45]; Ptrend = .019). ... Dietary intake of fried potatoes, snack chips or donuts was not significantly associated with higher GDM risk.
    Ann Epidemiol, 2017 · checked 2026-09-23