Why You Should Be Skeptical About a 'Healthier' Panda Express
Panda Express, an American-Chinese fast food restaurant chain with locations across the U.S. and around the world, has vowed to improve the nutrition of their food.
This effort, dubbed the "Panda Promise" (which may or may not be the subtitle of the next Kung Fu Panda movie), aims to achieve several broad goals.
To help you understand the menu changes best, here are Panda Express' goals, and then insights from Abby Langer, R.D., founder of Abby Langer Nutrition and captain of an always-on-point, nutrition-centric Twitter account.
Panda Express will introduce cage-free eggs in 2020, with nationwide adoption in 2025.
This "means nothing," Langer says. "While the term may cause consumers to envision their chickens frolicking in a flowered pasture, 'cage-free' is a marketing tactic that simply means the chickens aren't kept in cages."
Still, eggs are a fantastic source of protein, vitamins, and minerals. But much like the color of the egg, cage-free eggs indicate no major nutritional differences.
And if it's an animal welfare argument, know this: "[Cage-free chickens] may not have access to the outdoors and still may be cramped together in a room. Unfortunately, these living arrangements often leads to more violent behavior like pecking between chickens," Langer says.
So, in short, don't count your cage-free chickens when they hatch, Panda Express.
The restaurant will introduce chicken raised without antibiotics for all limited time offers.
"So all the other chicken has antibiotics?" Langer asks.
And why are chickens raised without antibiotics a good thing, anyway?
Well, as previously reported in 2014 by Men's Health, the CDC estimates more than 2 million Americans come down with antibiotic-resistant infections each year—and at least 23,000 people die as a result.
Eating contaminated poultry, or foods cross-contaminated by poultry juices, may increase your risk of carrying antibiotic-resistant bacteria. These bugs can sicken you outright, but they may also strike later when you're weakened by an illness.
So it's important to eat chicken raised without antibiotics all the time, not just for a limited time.
Panda Express will stock more than half their menu with options of "at least eight grams of protein and 300 calories or less."
Among other options, the restaurant will launch an steak dish this spring that will contain only 180 calories and 19 grams of protein, according to press materials.
This is great if you love the feeling of a grumbling stomach.
"I'd say that a meal that's less than 300 calories is probably going to leave you hungry within an hour of eating it," says Langer. "Meals should be around 450 to 500 calories and 20 to 30 grams of protein."
Men's Health recommends trying to eat at least 30 grams of protein and 10 grams of fiber at mealtime in order to maximize muscle synthesis and remain satisfied until your next meal. Here are 30 ways to do just that.
The chain will continue to reduce sodium and sugar levels.
Langer: "It's a good thing. Most of us eat too much of both those things."
Yet it's a vague thing (more on that later). When pressed for more specifics, a representative of Panda Express provided the following.
"Panda Express has decreased sodium across an array of core entrees and side options, ranging between 5 percent up to more than 50 percent reduction over the last five years. The numbers range because it is Panda Express’ priority to ensure that during these changes, menu items keep the bold flavor that guests have come to love."
One example: When Panda Express re-tooled its Super Greens side dish (a mixture of steamed broccoli, cabbage, and kale), the company reported reducing the sodium by more than 50 percent. The dish now contains 260 milligrams of sodium.
Entree-wise, Panda Express reported reducing sodium in its Broccoli Beef by more than 20 percent. That dish now contains 520 milligrams of sodium.
In response to specifics on sugar reduction, there's this from the company: "The reduction of sugar will be a focus as Panda Express moves into its five year commitment including completely removing all high-fructose corn syrup by 2021."
Panda Express will add more vegetables to its menu in the coming years.
This is a very good thing. Most major fast food restaurant chains offer little beyond a limp leaf of lettuce on a burger or lackluster side salad.
Panda Express, to it's credit, stuffs its menu with vegetables. There are mushrooms, green beans, onions, red peppers, yellow peppers, zucchini, celery, eggplant, and that aforementioned combo of broccoli, cabbage, and kale.
You'll find this kind of produce depth and range at few other places when it comes to fast food.
The Bottom Line: Panda Express receives a "B" for its nutrition efforts.
"I think that for the most part, if restaurants want to improve the quality of their food, then that's great," says Langer.
"But if the changes they make are based on creating fear in the general public based on harmless ingredients, then that's not okay. For example, a restaurant saying that their menu is 'clean,' which implies that other food is 'dirty' or somehow wrong. In reality, a promise of 'clean' ingredients doesn't really mean much from a nutrition standpoint."
Panda Express avoids this, balancing a reduction of sugar and sodium with the inclusion of more vegetables, but a lack of specifics prevents the chain from earning a higher grade, Langer says. There are too many questions left unanswered.
"What are the portions going to be like? The food quality? They're reducing sodium and sugar, but by how much for how many entrees? Have the majority of entrees been reduced in those ingredients by only 5 percent? Or most by 50 precent? It's easy to say that there will be 'reductions,' but in reality PE doesn't have to reach that far to fulfill that promise."
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