What’s fast, easy and cheap isn’t necessarily good for you. Just about every fast food chain has calorie content on the menu showing consumers what they’re getting, but physicians recently got a closer look in a study of chicken nuggets.

A laboratory analysis of bread-free chicken nuggets from two major fast-food chains found they contained between 40 and 50 percent meat, the remainder being fat, skin, connective tissue, blood vessels, nerves and bone fragments.

While these parts are edible, it doesn’t translate into a healthy choice, said Dr. Richard deShazo, professor of medicine, pediatrics and immunology at University of Mississippi Medical Center. He said some companies have chosen to use an artificial mixture of chicken parts — rather than low-fat white meat chicken — batter, fry it and still call it chicken.

“I was floored,” deShazo said. “With our epidemic of obesity, especially childhood obesity in under-served populations that eat fast-food more than any other (group), it was very pertinent to find out what was going on with this food.”

Chicken is one of the healthiest sources of protein, but the fast-food industry’s alteration of products makes chicken nuggets addictive for children, especially. “The larger issue is we’re developing a large population of chronically ill patients who cannot work,” he said.

For the examination, deShazo worked with Dr. Steven Bigler, a pathologist at Baptist Health Systems in Jackson, who stained, fixed, sliced and analyzed the nugget sections. deShazo chose to not name the two restaurant chains in the study.

In their paper, the physicians wrote that meat constituted about half of the first nugget, with the remainder composed primarily of fat with some blood vessels and nerves. The nugget from the second restaurant was composed of about 40 percent skeletal muscle, with the remainder being fat and other tissues, “including connective tissue and bone spicules.”

It’s enough to make anyone stop eating a chicken nugget, but not all fast-food restaurants are misleading customers. There are some fast-food restaurants with healthier items, said registered dietitian and diabetes educator Kathy Warwick of Professional Nutrition Consultants.

Warwick is wary of telling children that chicken nuggets are bad for them, but said common sense should be used, eating “everything in moderation.”

Before going to your favorite fast-food stop, for example, “You can go on all of their websites and see nutritional information to get all the information on calories, fat and sodium to make up your mind before you go,” Warwick said. “In most of the quick-serve restaurants, you get more sodium than you would if you made it at home.”

To help Mississippians learn more, a partnership between UMC and Mississippi Public Broadcasting created Southern Remedy Healthy Living, which includes television and radio episodes and community outreach.

DeShazo said it’s fine to have chicken nuggets occasionally within the scope of a healthy diet. Consumers have to learn how to distribute calories across a diet including lean protein, fresh fruit and green vegetables.

Southern Remedy Healthy Living has healthy eating placemats for adults and children, and fitness suggestions for any level. More importantly, people can learn how to count calories and read labels and see exactly how much fat, salt and sugar content are in foods.

“Foods with any more than 25 percent fat need to be avoided,” deShazo said. “We’re hoping this kind of publicity will get people to take charge and be responsible for their health.”