In 1969, the late writer William Zinsser toured a hotdog factory and described his visit in Life magazine, opening with the lines: “I’ve often wondered what goes into a hotdog. Now I know and I wish I didn’t.”
All these years later, his words still reflect our love/hate relationship with the humble wiener. We love eating them, but would rather not think about what’s in them.
Yet health and dietary experts do know – and think you should too, especially before you take that next bite.
Why are hotdogs so popular in the US?
The hotdog is a culinary icon, deeply embedded in US history and culture.
What’s a trip to the ballpark without a frank in a bun, smothered in mustard and sauerkraut? (Your choice of toppings may vary, depending on where you live.) Or a back yard cookout without a dozen hotdogs sizzling on the grill? During summer, Americans scarf down about 7bn of them, including 150m on the Fourth of July alone, says Eric Mittenthal, president of the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council.
Annually, Americans eat 50bn of them, he says.
“Hotdogs grew up alongside America itself,” Mittenthal says. “Brought over by European immigrants, they spread across the country and evolved region by region, taking on local character and tradition along the way.”
Consumers are drawn to hotdogs because they ignite the brain’s “reward” system – that is, those regions and pathways in the brain that drive how we experience pleasure, says Julia Zumpano, a registered dietitian with the Cleveland Clinic.
“Americans like them because they are convenient and easy, and hyper-palatable because they taste salty and fatty,” she says. “We get a big cascade of pleasure eating them. They hit the pleasure centers in our brains. It’s hard to not eat them and it’s hard to stop eating them.”
And don’t forget the add-ons: the bun, mustard, relish, ketchup, sauerkraut or onions. These pile on more flavor, as well as salt, sugar and refined white flour. “Most of the time, people don’t eat hotdogs naked,” she says.
Are hotdogs healthy?
Unfortunately, health and dietary experts view hotdogs as nutritional timebombs.
“Are hotdogs harmful? Are you kidding me?” says Michael Jacobson, a food scientist, retired longtime executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, and more recently founder of the National Food Museum. “They are among the worst foods you can eat if you eat them often. Once in a while is OK, but eating them on a regular basis is a very bad idea.”
Hotdogs are an ultra-processed food. They are typically made from trimmings, or the leftover scraps after prime cuts are prepared, from such meats as beef and pork.
“They are highly processed, full of fillers and animal parts, and high in sodium and saturated fats,” says Zumpano. “There may be some protein, but for the most part, there’s nothing good in them.”
Ultra-processed foods – especially those high in sodium, saturated fat and sugar – have been linked to heart disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cancer and dementia. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared processed meat a human carcinogen associated with colorectal cancer and possible links to pancreatic, prostate and breast cancers, says Dr Donald Hensrud, a nutritional specialist at the Mayo Clinic, citing data from WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer. “Approximately 2 ounces of processed meat daily will increase the risk of colorectal cancer by almost 20%,” he says. Hotdogs are typically sold eight or 10 in a one-pound package, meaning a typical hotdog weighs 1.6–2 ounces.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) allows hotdog manufacturers to add mechanically separated chicken, a paste-like poultry product made by forcing bones with attached meat through a high-pressure sieve that pulls the edible meat tissue from the bones, creating a finely ground paste-like consistency. (This USDA rule prompted Zinsser’s article.)
Hotdogs also contain preservatives like sodium erythorbate – a chemical that speeds up curing and preserves the “pink” color – and sodium nitrite, which prevents bacterial growth and also helps maintain color.
WHO’s international cancer research agency has deemed the substances formed when sodium nitrite is ingested “probably carcinogenic (cancer-causing) in humans”. Nitrites combine with the amines (nitrogen-containing organic compounds derived from ammonia) present in cured meats to form nitrosamines, which are carcinogenic. Nitrosamines form when the meat containing these two substances is cooked at high temperatures – grilling hotdogs, for example – or during the body’s digestive processes.
Mittenthal, an industry spokesperson, insists that hotdogs “are produced with the same nutrient-dense meat found in steaks and roasts”, and offer complete proteins and “important nutrients which are often under-consumed in the United States – such as vitamin B12, heme iron (a highly absorbable form of iron found only in animal-based foods) and zinc”. He points out that vegetables contain nitrates, which are converted into nitrites in the body. However, vegetables also contain protective nutrients, such as antioxidants, which reduce the formation of nitrosamines and thus pose much less of a cancer risk.
Are there safer alternatives?
Nitrite-free hotdogs are often available. These may be made of chicken or turkey, or vegetarian ingredients, and may be somewhat healthier than beef or pork – but consumers should not consider them healthy, experts say.
“Poultry dogs are better, but most brands contain celery powder or celery juice, which convert to nitrites – and then to nitrosamines – in the body,” Jacobson says. “And of course, even those hotdogs are ultra-processed, another indication of potential harm.”
“When it comes to veggie dogs, or turkey or chicken hotdogs, they may be lower in saturated fat or sodium, but it’s still processed food,” Zumpano agrees. “Some of these negatives are eliminated, but that doesn’t make them healthier options. A grilled chicken breast is better – way better.”
Is having a hotdog on the Fourth of July OK?
If you can’t forgo them entirely, most nutrition experts recommend eating hotdogs only once in a while. “How many hotdogs people eat will influence health risks much more than the healthfulness of the particular hotdog,” Hensrud says. “In other words, having a hotdog that is not that healthy once a year on July 4th has less health risks than consuming healthier hotdogs more frequently.”
Jacobson agrees. “You could eat anything once in a while, including a hotdog and a sugary drink,” he says. “My wife eats one hotdog a year and has survived.”
When his patients ask about hotdogs, Hensrud doesn’t tell them what they should or shouldn’t eat, he says.
“I approach this as I do with other discretionary dietary items, such as ice-cream, red meat and alcohol,” he says. “The more someone eats hotdogs, the greater the risk. I don’t tell people what to do – I provide them with information and let them decide. If someone is going to eat a hotdog on July 4, or only once in a while, enjoy it, but continue to try and eat healthy overall.”
So eat a hotdog at your neighbor’s cookout if you must, but don’t overdo it. Or opt for a hamburger, “which probably is a better choice”, Zumpano says. Even better: “Bring a healthy dish to share that you like and eat that instead.”
