WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- It's the junk food junkie's wildest dream come true -- pizza as health food.

University of Maryland food chemists said Monday that they had found ways to enhance the antioxidant content of whole-grain wheat pizza dough by baking it longer at higher temperatures and giving the dough lots of time to rise.

Antioxidants are substances that protect cells from damage caused by unstable molecules known as free radicals. Some experts believe antioxidants can lower the risk of cancer, heart disease and other ailments.

Liangli Lucy Yu, a food chemistry professor, said the findings arose from broader research into ways to improve health-promoting properties of wheat-based food products.

"The reason that we chose pizza is just because it is a very popular food product, not only in the U.S. but worldwide," researcher Jeffrey Moore added.

"So we thought if we could find ways to improve (its antioxidant) properties, doing this for such a product could have a larger impact on public health," Moore added.

But Moore had a slice of advice for pizza aficionados who might want to cover their crust with mounds of fatty toppings such as extra cheese, pepperoni, sausage and ground beef.

"If you're adding back all these other things that have potential negative health consequences, then you're negating anything that you're adding in terms of (health) value," Moore said.

The research was served up at a meeting of the American Chemical Society in Chicago, a mecca for deep-dish, thick-crust pizza.

The researchers experimented with baking temperatures, baking time and fermentation time -- the time the pizza dough is given to rise.
A hotter oven

Antioxidant levels rose by up to 60 percent with longer baking times and up to 82 percent with higher baking temperatures, depending on the type of wheat flour and the antioxidant test used, they said. The precise mechanisms involved are unclear, they said.

Baking time and temperature can be increased together without burning the pizza when done carefully, the researchers said. They used oven temperatures from 400 to 550 degrees Fahrenheit (204 to 287 degrees Celsius), and baking times from 7 to 14 minutes.

They looked at fermentation times up to two full days, and found that longer periods in some cases doubled the dough's antioxidant levels. This probably stemmed from chemical reactions caused by yeasts in the dough that had more time to release the antioxidant components, Moore said.

A common fermentation time is about 18 hours, Moore said.

The study used only whole wheat dough. Most of the antioxidants in wheat are in the bran and endosperm components that are generally removed in refined flour, Moore said. Thus, longer and hotter baking and longer fermentation likely would be less effective in making more healthful pizza with refined flour, he said.

The study was funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and grain organizations, but not by the pizza industry.

I don't know. I don't think I would like to eat a pizza made with whole-grain dough. Besides, what'ts the good of eating pizza without putting cheese and other stuff on it?

I just avoid such foods as a rule, but if I do decide to eat them, I just eat them as they are in full knowledge that I am breaking my diet. It keeps me more honest that way.

pizza never can be a good thing for help.
My children eat this thing very much and i hate this.

There are several places around here that server only whole grain pizza and honestly, if the sauce is made well, you don't notice it really.

There's no reason you can't make pizza healthier but realistically you have to make it yourself. I make my own dough and stick with a traditional hand tossed thin crust. (very very thin crust) and then top it with home made fat free tomato sauce low fat meat toppings, veggies and 2% milk cheese. If you cut out the meat toppings all together and stuck with vegetarian you could cut the calories down to a relatively guilt free level.

Bob Lee said :

I would like to know something from Mr. Bob Lee. Mr. Lee have you ever tried a pizza which is made of full vegetables and homemade dough which is not only healthy but tasty as well. I agree that eating pizza regularly can harm your digestive system but if you are making it at your place and your intake is small, you'll definitely get essential food nutrients from it.


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'going High"
alert one

Hi dears...
These days trend have been settled that everybody like outing and pizza is compulsory
part of outing... Pizza eating habit is also cause of overweighting... Many research has been conducting against pizza and proved that pizza is dangerous to health...

Well I personality think Pizza is not good for health because it is considered that fast food which is not in reasonable for our health in any respect as it increase the Cholesterol level in our body . So How we can consider it a healthy Food .

It depends on how the pizza is made, how much one eats of it, and how often one eats it, I should think. If someone eats pizza as an occassional treat, then, really, no matter what its ingredients are, there will be no problem, the same as with all fast food.

There's nothing wrong with the occassional treat, the once-in-a-while splurge. It's when that happens too often, or even every day, that a problem arises.

As for cholesterol, not all of it is bad, you know.

I love to eat pizza but my mom hates pizza..She always says that pizza is harmful for your health..

i like to eating a pizza but some people are telling all the junk food are bad to your health n specially pizza are very harmful to your health. i m reading some site to this and all are telling pizza is not a good for you.