The study team calculates that sandwiches, on average, contribute about a fifth of the entire day’s sodium intake for people who eat them.
“Excessive sodium intake is a health risk because of the relationship between sodium and blood pressure,” said the study’s lead author, Rhonda Sebastian, a nutritionist in the Food Surveys Research Group of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
High sodium intake has been linked to worsening high blood pressure, a condition that can, in turn, increase the risk of heart disease, congestive heart failure and kidney disease, according to the USDA’s 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.