The Highest Fat Item On Subway's Menu Isn't What You Think

You may know the fourth Earl of Sandwich, John Montagu, as the rightful creator of the delicious lunch meal we call the sandwich — but did you know that the history of the sandwich is mired in controversy (via History)?

According to History, long before Montagu, a rabbi by the name Hillel the Elder reportedly created sandwiches with bitter herbs placed between unleavened bread. Somewhere along the way, the sandwich developed its proper name when Montagu popularized the meal in 18th century England (via Oxford University Press).

By the year 1816, Americans introduced the sandwich to their cookbooks (per Public Broadcast Service). Americans brought many variations to the sandwich, including the original recipe for the peanut butter and jelly sandwich as well as the grinder, also known as the submarine sandwich (via History). 

The submarine sandwich — which, according to Britannica, is a split bread roll with many different types of cheeses, condiments, meats, and vegetables — would take the world by storm as one company would establish over 44,000 locations worldwide (per Subway). That's right, we're talking about Subway.

Subway is known for its 'Eat Fresh' campaign that aligned the famous subs with a healthy lifestyle. But there's still one item on the menu you might want to avoid if you are on a low fat diet.

The item with the highest fat on the Subway menu is the chicken and bacon ranch melt. According to Eat This, Not That! the main ingredients of this sub are bread, bacon, cheese, ranch sauce, and strips of chicken breast.

Different sources cite slightly different nutritional facts, but they're in the same ballpark. Eat This, Not That! clocks the six-inch chicken bacon and ranch melt in at 32 total grams of fat, including 12 grams of saturated fat, and 1,340 milligrams of sodium. 

Healthline suggests consuming around 67 grams of fat if you are on a 2,000 calorie low-fat diet. A six-inch chicken bacon and ranch melt would take up nearly half of your allotted fat grams. If you go for the footlong, you'd nearly be at the daily threshold. You may be wondering where all of this fat is coming from. Spoiler, it's the bacon and the ranch.

According to MedicineNet, bacon is about 40% saturated fat. Based on a 2,000 calorie diet, you should only have around 13 grams of saturated fat per day. Incredibly, the six-inch chicken bacon and ranch melt would nearly take you to that limit. Then there's the ranch, which contains 73 calories and nearly 8 grams of total fat per tablespoon (via SFGate).

If you want to eat fresh, maybe skip this fatty sub.