McDonald's US Cheeseburger: calories and sugar by portion, age and sex

Nutrition information: McDonald's US Cheeseburger

Nutrition figures are McDonald’s USA published data, per item as sold and before any optional sauces or extras. Boone converts them to the portion and age comparisons on this page.

McDonald's US Cheeseburger carries a large share of a child’s daily sodium

McDonald's US Cheeseburger contains 720mg of sodium, which is 48% of the daily limit for a child aged 4 to 8.

FDA Daily Values (2,000-calorie diet)

Where the sugar comes from: McDonald's US Cheeseburger

5g of the 6g counts as added sugar, or about 1.2 teaspoons. The other 1g is naturally occurring.

Added sugars come from

• sugar, dextrose in the regular bun
• high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup in the ketchup

Naturally occurring sugars come from

• lactose in the pasteurized process American cheese
• sugars naturally present in the onions

Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030: no more than 10g of added sugar per meal from age 11 and none for children aged 10 and under. FDA Daily Value: 50g a day. Sources are read from the published ingredient list for each component.

Processing and additives: McDonald's US Cheeseburger

McDonald's US Cheeseburger is assembled from 7 separately manufactured components, combined and served at the point of sale. Reading the ingredient list closely, it contains corn syrups and invert sugar, dextrose, maltodextrin, modified starches, emulsifiers, flavourings, colours, preservatives, emulsifying and buffering salts, firming agents and protein and dairy fractions. These are not there to add nutritional value. They make industrial production and distribution possible.

Boone classifies McDonald's US Cheeseburger as NOVA group 4, ultra-processed, based on the additives named above. NOVA groups foods by how far they are from their whole-food form, not by how nutritious they are. A group 4 food is not automatically unhealthy, and a group 1 food is not automatically healthy. Read from the published ingredient list, September 2026.

Ingredient count by order: McDonald's US Cheeseburger

The 30 manufactured ingredients

alum, ascorbic acid, calcium chloride, citric acid, color added, corn starch, corn syrup, dextrose, enzymes, extractives of turmeric, faba bean protein, folic acid, high fructose corn syrup, maltodextrin, modified food starch, monoglycerides, natural flavor, niacin, pea protein, polysorbate 80, potassium sorbate, potato protein, reduced iron, riboflavin, rice protein, sodium citrate, soy lecithin, spice extractive, thiamine mononitrate, wheat gluten.

The 21 raw ingredients

beef, black pepper, cream, cucumber, cultures, distilled vinegar, malted barley flour, milk, mustard seed, onion, paprika, salt, soybean oil, sugar, sunflower and/or canola oil, tomato concentrate from red ripe tomatoes, turmeric, vinegar, water, wheat flour, yeast.

What those ingredients are, by type

Boone counts every distinct named ingredient on McDonald’s published component lists, including sub-ingredients, and removes duplicates, so salt appearing in four components counts once. Additive class names are dropped and the named substance kept, so “leavening (baking soda)” counts baking soda once. Ice and water added at the counter are not counted. Raw covers whole foods and basic kitchen staples such as flour, sugar, salt and oil. Manufactured covers substances that only exist as an output of industrial processing. Every figure here is a minimum. The build uses a Sweet ’n Sour sauce.

Ingredients by component: McDonald's US Cheeseburger

Ingredients taken from the McDonald’s USA product pages, retrieved September 2026, with obvious spelling errors corrected. Recipes change - always check in restaurant before ordering if you have an allergy.

Allergen information: McDonald's US Cheeseburger

Contains = declared by McDonald’s USA. May contain = McDonald’s states the allergen may be present. McDonald’s prepares food in shared kitchens, so no item can be guaranteed allergen free. UK rules also require barley, oats, mustard, celery and sulphites to be declared; these are shown where the ingredient list names them. Retrieved September 2026.