The Price Of A Hot Dog: 36 Minutes Off Your Life, Study Says

ANN ARBOR, MI — It's a backyard barbecue staple, an American classic doused in ketchup and mustard. It's a kid favorite and the perfect partner to your funnel cake at your local county fair.

And if you eat hot dogs on the regular, it just might shave a few years off your life, too.

In a culinary twist we didn't see coming, a University of Michigan study released this week found that eating a single hot dog may take 36 minutes off your life. That's three times more than smoking a single cigarette, which studies have shown take 11 minutes off your life.

The study, published in the journal "Nature Food," evaluated more than 5,800 foods, ranking them by their nutritional disease burden to humans as well as their impact on the environment, according to a University of Michigan news release.

Through the study, researchers sought to find out where drastic dietary changes are required to improve individual health and reduce environmental impact.

Read more about the University of Michigan's methodology.

Other popular foods didn't fare much better, according to the study. A piece of bacon will take 6 minutes, 30 seconds from you. A slice of pizza: 7 minutes, 8 seconds.

There's some good news in the study. If you choose to give up most of the foods that bring you joy, you can actually add healthy minutes to your life. And the changes don't have to be drastic.

The study found that swapping out 10 percent of your daily caloric intake from beef and processed meats for a mix of fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes and select seafood could reduce your dietary carbon footprint by one-third and allow people to add 48 healthy minutes to their lives per day.

Specifically, bananas can add more than 13 healthy minutes to your life, while avocados add 2 minutes, 8 seconds.

Here's another twist: A peanut butter and jelly sandwich adds a whopping 33 minutes, 6 seconds to your life.

“When it comes to the PB&J sandwich, it's the nut butter that prevails," nutritionist and author Joy Bauer told "Inside Edition." "It's got heart-healthy fat, protein, fiber and it's totally delicious."