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JACKSON, Miss. — America's beloved chicken nuggets may contain even less meat than some imagined, according to a recent study.

Chicken nuggets from two major fast-food chains were revealed to contain only 40- 50 percent chicken meat, scientists at the University of Mississippi Medical Center found. The rest of the nuggets were composed of fat, skin, connective tissue, blood vessels, nerves and bone fragments, they said.

“I was floored,” said lead author Dr. Richard deShazo in a press release. “I had read what other reports have said is in them and I didn’t believe it. I was astonished actually seeing it under the microscope.”

While all of the ingredients are still edible, he said they aren't very good for us.

“What has happened is that some companies have chosen to use an artificial mixture of chicken parts rather than low-fat chicken white meat, batter it up and fry it, and still call it chicken," deSahzo said. "It is really a chicken by-product high in calories, salt, sugar and fat that is a very unhealthy choice. Even worse, it tastes great and kids love it and it is marketed to them."

He said he is especially concerned about children who eat a lot of chicken nuggets, because if a large percentage of a particular food is fat then a child can become obese and risk developing diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoarthritis and other diseases.

deShazo said his own grandchildren love chicken nuggets.

"I got a little bit curious about what was in chicken nuggets," he said. "It almost seemed like they were habituating, that kids were addicted to the chicken nuggets."

They determined the only way to find out what was in the nuggets was to take sections of it and analyze it the same way they would for an autopsy, he said.

The nugget from the first restaurant had 50 percent skeletal tissue, which is what we typically consider to be meat, and the second restaurant's nugget included only 40 percent, they found.

The names of the two chains investigated for the study published in The American Journal of Medicine were not released, but deShazo said the chains aren't necessarily misleading consumers.

“We just don't take the time to understand basic nutritional facts — this is a health literacy issue — and to push back when our kids and grandkids, who do not know the risks of being obese, beg for unhealthy foods,” he said.

deShazo also said other chains may offer chicken nuggets made with better meat, but frying any food will make it unhealthy.

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