Most health-conscious people avoid fast food restaurants like McDonald’s at all costs.

Fast food chains often use genetically modified ingredients, artificial sweeteners in sodas, heavy metals across the board, high-fructose corn syrup as a cheap yet deadly sweetener, and a variety of other toxic chemicals. In fact, oftentimes fast food ‘meat’ products are comprised of synthetic meat ingredients — it even says so on the official recipe.

1. Wendy’s Frosty

Wendy’s Frosty is loaded with corn syrup, artificial flavors, and a long list of thickening agents. In fact, it takes 14 ingredients to create this fast food milkshake over the traditional two: ice cream and milk. Guar gum, cellulose gum, and carrageenan are all used in the recipe to artificially create the thickness and texture of the drink. What truly reaches a new level in synthetic toxicity, however, is Wendy’s new Coffee Toffee Twisted Frosty.

With the addition of  ’coffee syrup’ and ‘coffee toffee pieces’ comes an extra 25 ingredients, including a laxative chemical known as propylene glycol that is also used as a filler in electronic cigarettes. Along with the synthetic laxative comes 7 sugars including high-fructose corn syrup, and 3 different oils. Coffee, the main focus of the beverage, is listed at the very end of the nutrition label — number 8 out of the 10 total base ingredients.

2. Chicken McNuggets

Chicken McNuggets would appear to contain bread and chicken, perhaps a bit of seasoning for flavor. What it actually contains has given it a reputation as one of the worst food items on the planet. The meat alone in McNuggets is compromised of 7 different ingredients, many of which are made up of several other ingredients. Some ingredients that make up the ‘meat’ include sodium phosphate, safflower oil, wheat starch, dextrose, and a particularly dangerous substance known as autolyzed yeast extract. Autolyzed yeast extract is like MSG, an artificial sweetener that has been linked to obesity and other health conditions.

Frighteningly, these are not the worst chemicals found in McNuggets. Dimethylpolysiloxane, a type of silicone, is added as an anti-foaming agent to the nuggets. This is the same ingredient that is used in breast implants and silly putty, yet McNuggets are marketed towards children with complete disregard for their health.

Although not quite as common today, PDMS has also been used in breast implants as a filler fluid. In addition, it is also widely in cosmetics and consumer products.

Dimethylpolysiloxane is being phased out as a breast plant filler due to safety concerns, yet McDonald’s has been using it in their McNuggets which are being consumed by millions worldwide.

3. McDonald’s Salads

McDonald’s salads, often pushed as a healthier alternative to other fast food items on the menu, contain cilantro lime glaze and the orange glaze. Within the glaze lies propylene glycol — a chemical that is not legal to use in cat food because its safety has not yet been proven. In addition, propylene glycol is also used ”as the killing and preserving agent in pitfall traps, usually used to capture ground beetles.”

McDonald’s salads also contain two ingredients that divulge the presence of MSG: disodium inosinate, and disodium guanylate. Chemical-loaded salads are no better than other menu items which have similar recipes and equally-devastating ingredients. Fast food establishments as a whole are extremely harmful to human health worldwide, contributing not only to soaring obesity rates, but to cancer, diabetes, and other crippling diseases as well. It is important to remember that the ingredients are key to determining the health of a food item, and they should be thoroughly examined before making the purchase.