The three pie charts compare the average proportion of sodium, saturated fats and added sugars contained in four typical meals, namely breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, in the USA.
Overall, the largest shares of sodium and saturated fats are consumed in dinner, whereas the highest proportion of added sugars is found in snacks. It is also conspicuous, that breakfast contains consistently the same amount of all three nutrients, which demonstrate the lowest percentages.
Regarding sodium intake, dinner accounts for the largest proportion of 43%, followed by lunch at 29%, while breakfast and snacks both make up 14%. It is interesting to note, that a similar pattern can be observed for the saturated fats, where the biggest amount of 37% is contained in dinners and with 26% for lunch. Comparing with the same intake of sodium in snacks and breakfast, saturated fats represent 21% and 16% for these categories.
The distribution of added sugar is noticeably different. While the dinner contains the highest proportion of sodium and saturated fats, the amount of added sugars is only 23% in this meal, representing the second place of intake. Unlike the first to categories of nutrients, added sugar is consumed predominantly in snacks with 42%. In contrast, lunch and breakfast contribute the smallest shares, at 19% and 16% respectively.