We don’t always think about the nutritional value of the sandwiches we scarf down, but three faculty members from the Department of Behavioral Health and Nutrition have done just that, looking at the quality of sandwiches eaten by people of different ages.

Marie Kuczmarski, Nancy Cotugna and Beth Schwenk have co-authored a paper in the journal Nutrients with researchers from the National Institute on Aging. Their article is the first to explore the relationship of sandwich consumption and diet quality of younger and older adults over time and describe patterns of sandwich consumption.

Researchers examined participants from the Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity across the Life Span (HANDLS) longitudinal study at three time points, both cross-sectionally and over time. Participants lived in Baltimore.

On any given day, sandwiches are consumed by half the adult population in the United States. While looking at each time point, they found that those who did not eat sandwiches actually had better quality diets than those who reported eating sandwiches. Among those who did eat sandwiches, cured and processed meats, beef and poultry were the top fillings.

Most of the sandwiches people reported eating came from a store, rather than a fast food location. Researchers said this finding could mean they are making more of the decisions about what to eat specifically, not just taking the fast food meal as is.  

Among participants 50 and older, diet quality improved as they aged, suggesting they may change the choice of sandwich ingredients.  

Authors said the consumption of sandwiches can be a focus for registered dietitians when planning nutrition education to improve diet quality. Decreasing processed meats and whole-fat cheeses, exchanging fried with grilled options for meats and fish, and adding lettuce and tomatoes are ways to improve the quality of sandwiches. The type of bread and ingredients within a sandwich also can be important contributors to diet quality.

You can read the study here.