"And talking about tuna fish salad made with mayonnaise," Santoro continued. "It seems to me kind of surprising that people don't know that mayonnaise has a lot of fat. It isn't something new that fat is fattening. That's as old as the hills."
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In taking on the all-American sandwich as its latest nutrition target in the April issue of its newsletter, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) found many of the most popular combinations loaded with artery-clogging fat.
In all, 135 samples of the 12 most popular takeout sandwiches, plus 36 samples of five subs, were purchased from shops in Washington, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, and scientifically analyzed for calories, fat, cholesterol and sodium.
Some of the submarine sandwiches tested - all from the nationwide Subway chain - got relatively good fat ratings. But then the subs were smaller - the six-inch size - and were uniformly lower in calories, if not always in fat, than most of the other sandwiches tested.
Those other sandwiches ranged in size from a 5-ounce grilled cheese and an 8-ounce bacon-lettuce-and-tomato to a 14-ounce Reuben, with most coming in between 9 and 11 ounces. All but the grilled cheese and BLT weighed more than an 8-ounce Big Mac.
"What we used was exactly what we got," said Jayne Hurley, CSPI's senior nutritionist, explaining the disparity in size.
"These are not giant sandwiches. I was shocked actually, but they were the
average size you get from the place around the corner. We only did two overstuffed sandwiches - tuna (13 ounces) and corned beef (13 ounces) - and that was in addition to doing both in the regular size."
