Eating a Hot Dog Takes a Ridiculous Amount of Time Off Your Life, Study Says (But Not as Long as It Takes to Chew a Salad)

Photo: Johner Images (Getty Images)

Summer is almost over. Luckily, there are still a few more weeks to enjoy the number one greatest summer food item of all time. The sweltering season is complete without one (or seven) grilled (or water dogs if you’re on the go in New York City) hot dogs. They’re the perfect food item for anyone on the go, to munch on during a day at the ballpark, or in the comfortable confines of your backyard. Whether you enjoy them undressed or slathered in ketchup, mustard, and relish, hot dogs are the summer staple we never want to give up. That is even if a new study says we probably should.

Researchers from the University of Michigan School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health Sciences recently released guidelines in an effort to help improve the health of Americans. This included an index ranking 5,000 foods based on minutes gained or lost on your life expectancy from eating them. While there were many obvious bad foods like sugary drinks and fast food, it was the findings from the aforementioned hot dog that was the most troubling.

They found that the foods ranged between 74 minutes lost and 80 minutes gained per serving. Salted peanuts, rice and beans, vegetables, and salmon were among the best. While eating one 85-gram serving of chicken wings could remove 3.3 minutes from your life, the tasty, grilled, delicious tube of mystery meat lovingly referred to as the hot dog could result in a loss of 36 minutes of your life per serving. While this is rough to hear because we definitely don’t eat just one per meal, we’re sort of okay with it. They taste too good.

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