In our About Us section, we celebrate travel in the Age of Globalization, noting, “A visit to a McDonald’s in Shanghai is still nothing like a visit to a McDonald’s in Durban or Auckland or Newark.” We were thinking in cultural terms, but it turns out the same is true when it comes to nutrition, too. According to an AP story in the San Diego Union-Tribune, a study of KFC and McDonald’s restaurants around the globe found that the same menu items—including McDonald’s chicken nuggets and KFC hot wings—varied widely in artery-clogging trans fat content from country to country, and even from city to city. It turns out, for example, that hot wings-and-fries in New York had far less trans fats than in Poland and Hungary, and that a chicken nuggets combo in New York City had far more trans fats than the same combo in Denmark, Spain and Russia. Researchers blame the different kinds of oils used. 

Here’s a taste of the story:

The Danish researchers tested products from the chains’ outlets in dozens of countries in 2004 and 2005, analyzing McDonald’s chicken nuggets, KFC hot wings, and the two chains’ fried potatoes. The findings were reported in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine.

At a New York City McDonald’s, a large fries-and-chicken-nuggets combo was found to contain 10.2 grams of the trans fat, compared with 0.33 grams in Denmark and about 3 grams in Spain, Russia and the Czech Republic.

At KFCs in Poland and Hungary, a large hot wings-and-fries order had 19 grams of trans fats or more, versus 5.5 grams for wings and fried potato wedges in New York. But in Germany, Russia, Denmark and Aberdeen, Scotland, the same meal had less than a gram.

A large order of french fries at a New York City McDonald’s contained 30 percent more trans fat than the same order from an Atlanta McDonald’s.