Is Jersey Mike's Healthier Than Subway?

When it comes to submarine sandwich choices, American sandwich fans have quite a few to choose from. It's safe to say that the most well-known sandwich chain in the United States is Subway. They may be facing a bit of a crisis from overexpanding and be reaping the perils of their own success, but still, Subway is almost everywhere. If your town has at least one chain sandwich shop, it's probably a Subway. 

Yet, there's another chain sandwich shop on the rise — Jersey Mike's. Per the company's website, Jersey Mike's has more than 2,000 locations, and while that's still a far cry from Subway's numbers, Jersey Mike's is catching on. So which sandwich shop is your best bet if you're looking for a healthy hoagie? 

In their review, Business Insider declared that Jersey Mike's was a much better tasting sandwich with fresher ingredients than Subway. Taste is one thing though — what about nutrition?  

Sorry, Jersey Mike's, but Subway has you beat by a long shot when it comes to the healthiest sandwich. Let's break this down by looking at the unhealthiest and the healthiest sandwiches on each menu. For this, we'll refer to the 6-inch sub from Subway and the regular size (7-1/2 inch) sub from Jersey Mike's. 

According to Eat This, Not That! the unhealthiest sandwich on Subway's menu is the chicken and bacon ranch melt. It weighs in at 610 calories and with 32 grams of fat, that's more than 40 percent of the FDA's daily recommended fat intake. You do get 36 grams of protein with this sandwich, but it also has 1,340 milligrams of sodium and six grams of sugar. Yuck. 

As for Jersey Mike's, well, let's just say that Mike isn't too concerned with calories or sodium (via Eat This, Not That!). Jersey Mike's original Italian sub has 940 calories with 53 grams of fat between those buns. It also has 2,351 milligrams of sodium and 11 grams of sugar. Woof!

So, what if you're trying to find the healthiest healthy sandwich between the two chains>? Again, it turns out that you're better off going with Subway. The healthiest sandwiches on the menus at both chains include chicken, but Subway's oven-roasted chicken sandwich wins out. The sandwich only has 270 calories and 3.5 grams of fat. It does still have 6 grams of sugar, but its sodium content is considerably less than the chicken and bacon ranch melt with just 560 milligrams.

Jersey Mike's chicken Philly sandwich, however, is 670 calories. Yup, it's already unhealthier than Subway's unhealthiest sandwich. It also has 22 grams of fat, 1,990 milligrams of sodium, and 10 grams of sugar. 

A sandwich at Jersey Mike's might have an extra inch and a half on Subway, but that shouldn't result in sandwiches that are so much unhealthier.