Prevent Heart Attacks—with Pizza??

[Bluebear]

By Maureen Williams, ND



People in Italy who regularly eat pizza are less likely to have heart attacks than those who don’t eat pizza, according to a study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2004;advance online publication 12 May:1–4).

Pizza is a traditional Italian food and one of the most popular foods in the world. In its simplest form, it is made of a wheat flour crust risen with yeast, coated with olive oil and tomato sauce, and topped with mozzarella cheese. One large study found that women who eat two or more servings of pizza per week have a 34% lower risk of heart disease than women who don’t eat pizza. Other studies have suggested that some pizza ingredients, such as tomatoes (with their powerful antioxidant lycopene) and olive oil, can protect against heart disease.

The current study took place in Italy; it compared the diets, health characteristics, and habits of 507 people hospitalized for their first heart attack with those of 478 people who had never had a heart attack. Answers to questionnaires revealed that, compared with the people who had never had a heart attack, the people who had experienced a heart attack were more likely to be smokers, coffee drinkers, and overweight; they were less likely to drink alcohol, less likely to exercise, ate fewer vegetables and fruits, and ate more calories overall. Even when the analysis corrected for all of these differences, eating pizza was found to be linked with a lower incidence of heart attack: eating one 7-ounce serving of pizza per week reduced the likelihood of having a heart attack by 38%, and eating two servings of pizza per week reduced the risk by 56%. The beneficial effects of pizza consumption were still seen, even after researchers adjusted the results for total intake of tomatoes and olive oil.

The results of this study suggest that eating pizza may uniquely benefit heart disease risk. It is possible that the observed benefit is due to lycopene from tomatoes or olive oil, or both, but further research is needed to determine this......more

http://www.mothernature.com/Library/News/index.cfm/n/317

[salvorhardin]

1. Interesting article

Bluebear, can you please provide links in your posts to the original stories? I hate to be a board nazi but this is one of my pet peeves. :-)

[Bluebear]

3. Oh no problem...

Slipped away without a link.

Actually I searched for it because it was on the news here the other night. They were clear that they are referring to a pizza as made in Italy, not the thick globfest we're used to over here.

[BuyingThyme]

2. I wonder what the numbers would show if...

they started putting Cheerios on their pizza.

[shawcomm]

4. Woohoo!

I'm going to live forever!

Meat Lover's pizzas do count, don't they?

[AwakeAtLast]

5. Well then

my heart should be in great condition, LOL! My favorite pizza is the exact kind in the picture. I don't like meat on pizza for some reason.

[havocmom]

6. Ooo ooo! Pizza for my heart. Got my attention!

I have always said pizza is the perfect food. Has all 4 food groups and comes on it's own plate. Such a deal!

Any tomato & eggplant dish is probably pretty good for us too.

[solinvictus]

8. Tomato and eggplant..

Here you go: http://www.pisapizza.com/menu/

[solinvictus]

7. Serving size and toppings..

Except that an American pizza would have several ounces of greasy processed meat on it. That's a big difference too.

[salvorhardin]

9. I'm a pizza snob

and fully understand where you're coming from. While, to me, pepperoni and sausage are essential elements in the perfect pizza they are only a small part. Far more important are the veggie and fungal ingredients -- I absolutely demand lots of onions, peppers and mushrooms. A handful of black olives is also nice. All other ingredients are debateable.

The other thing that disgusts me about American pizza it seems to have become nothing more than a cheese delivery system."Now at Pizza Slut -- the triple cheese, cheese stuffed pizza encased in a solid block of cheese!"