Why you should stop eating sandwiches

By Peter Janiszewski, Ph.D.

New research published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics suggests that much of our excessive salt intake can be blamed on the consumption of sandwiches.

Specifically, assessment of one day of dietary intake from 5,762 adults in the US participating in the What We Eat in America, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2009-2010 revealed that approximately 1/5th of the sodium intake of American adults comes from eating a sandwich.

The study also found that on any given day, 49% of American adults consume a sandwich, with the rate of sandwich consumption being significantly higher among men than women (54% vs 44%).

Current guidelines suggest that adults should consume under 1500 mg of sodium per day, and should never exceed the upper limit of 2300 mg/day. By these thresholds, sandwiches alone contributed 30-46% of the recommended upper limit of daily sodium intake.

But we shouldn’t really be surprised.

First of all, as a population, approximately 80% of North Americans exceed the upper limit of sodium every single day.

Secondly, many of the things we squeeze between two pieces of bread – hamburgers, chicken burgers, cheese, hotdogs, deli meats, etc. – are chock full of salt.

And it’s not just sandwiches that deserve all the blame. As I’ve discussed before, fast food is a huge contributor to our collective salt intake:

• 56% of meals purchased at fast food outlets contain more sodium than should be consumed during the entire day (>1500mg), with 20% of meals exceeding the uppermost limit for daily sodium intake (>2300mg)

• Chicken fast food places have the worst sodium levels per meal with 83.8% of meals exceeding the daily recommended level (1500mg)

• Only 1 in 36 purchased meals at fast food joints met the Food and Drug Administration “healthy” sodium level for meals (600 mg)

• The high sodium intake wasn’t necessarily driven by a high calorie intake, but rather by a high sodium per calorie ratio, with an average of 2136 mg sodium per 1000 calories purchased. Thus, even those eating lower calorie meals are likely to exceed their daily sodium limit within a single meal.

As is well established, a diet high in sodium is a key contributor to the development of cardiovascular problems.

Since hypertension and a fondness for salt run in my family,  I certainly need to be careful.

As I’ve admitted before, I love salty foods. Put chocolate or something else sweet in front of me and I can happily ignore it, but put a bag of chips or pretzels within arm’s reach and I just can’t help myself. Also, being of European upbringing, the deli sandwich is a lunch favorite of mine. There’s a local deli I frequent at least once per week where a lovely Italian gentleman prepares me masterpieces of turkey, salami, gruyere, brie, and others between two slices of olive ciabatta. I can’t imagine I’m not bumping up against that 1500mg sodium ceiling after one of those sandwiches.

But, damn they’re good!

Thanks to this new research as a reminder, I’ll try and limit my intake of deli sandwiches, and when I have a serious craving I’ll try and select ingredients that are lower on the sodium scale (e.g. low-sodium turkey vs. prosciutto or salami).

What about you? How do you keep your sodium intake in check?

Peter

Reference:

Sebastian RS, Wilkinson Enns C, Goldman JD, Hoy MK, Moshfegh AJ. Sandwiches Are Major Contributors of Sodium in the Diets of American Adults: Results from What We Eat in America, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2009-2010. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2014 Oct 1. pii: S2212-2672(14)01217-9.