From McDonald's to Five Guys, the healthiest burgers…

From McDonald's to Five Guys, the healthiest burgers revealed

From cheap and cheerful to expensive and gourmet, it seems that we can't get enough burgers of all shapes and sizes - we've even had a special day to celebrate the fast food favourite since 2013.

Britain's love affair with the burger can probably be traced back to when US giant McDonald's opened its first restaurant in London in 1974, but experts reckon that burgers may have been invented by the Romans in the 4th century, as a recipe from the ancient Roman cookbook, Apicius, details a dish called 'Isicia Omentata' made of minced meat formed into a burger.

According to a Channel 5 documentary, the British fast food industry is worth £15bn pounds annually and in a year, the UK consumes an incredible 2.5 billion beef burgers. That's roughly 37 burgers per person per year. A study of 2,000 adults also found 83 percent of those who eat meat and fish couldn't 'live' without them, although these figures pale in comparison with the United States, where the average American consumes 154 burgers annually or around three every week.

Despite the increase of healthy eating habits, many families still treat themselves to an occasional takeaway, and with 1270 McDonald's restaurants and 515 Burger King outlets, a burger is still one of the nation’s favourite guilty pleasures.

But while a burger may be one of the UK's preferred choices, it's not always the healthiest meal, with some loaded burgers adding up to nearly a full day's recommended calories. Gambling.com took the standard cheeseburger option from seven chains outlet, and analysed each burger for sugar, fat, salt and calorie content to work out which one is the friendliest to your heart and body as a whole. Lower amounts of these four nutritional values are a good thing – so the lower the quantity, the higher the score is out of 10.

In first place was a name from the past, Wimpy, which serves up the most heart-healthy cheeseburger in the UK. Although the name has disappeared from the North East high streets, it still has more than 60 restaurants in the UK. The Wimpy Cheeseburger has the lowest fat and calorie contents (per 100g) in the entire study - culminating in a final score of 8.8 out of 10. It also performed well in the salt and sugar categories, putting this chain at the top of the list.

Two fast-food restaurants are tied for second place in the rankings. Burger King's Cheeseburger performed well in the salt and calorie sections, where it is behind only the leader. Five Guys and their Cheeseburger share second place. The chain, which has restaurants in Newcastle and Metrocentre, records the lowest salt content per 100 grams in the entire study, as well as the second lowest amount of sugar.

The ShackBurger from London-based chain Shake Shack is in at number four with a final; rating of 5.4 while in joint fifth place is McDonald’s and Honest Burgers, whose cheeseburger variations both clocked up an average heart health score of 3.3 out of 10.

Gourmet Burger Kitchen’s Classic Cheddar is at the foot of the rankings - with an overall score of 2.5.

The full list is:

1. Wimpy Cheeseburger

Fat score: 10; Salt score: 8.3

Overall score: 8.8

2. Burger King Cheeseburger

Fat score: 8.3; Salt score: 3.3

Overall score: 5.8

2. Five Guys Cheeseburger

Fat score: 1.7; Salt score: 10

Overall score: 5.8

4. Shake Shack Shakeburger