BS: Pizza- good for you!

Subject: BS: Pizza- good for you!
From: beardedbruce
Date: 27 Mar 07 - 11:17 AM

Pizza as health food?
POSTED: 7:15 p.m. EDT, March 26, 2007

Story Highlights• Researchers enhanced the antioxidant content of whole-grain wheat pizza dough
• Antioxidant levels rose by up to 60 percent with longer baking times
• Fatty toppings negate any good health effects, researchers said

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.

Subject: RE: BS: Pizza- good for you!
From: MMario
Date: 27 Mar 07 - 11:41 AM

Thus, longer and hotter baking and longer fermentation likely would be less effective in making more healthful pizza with refined flour

That, of course is supposition as they don't know what the mechanics are.

I also wonder at the "fementation up to two days" - When I worked at a pizza shop - our dough fermented for an hour at room temp - then was refrigerated with a date and time stamp. at 24 hours it was tossed (or was suppossed to be tossed)   and if you went much over the 24 hours the customers usually started to complain.

And we baked at 500 degrees for 7.5 minutes

so all around I wonder at the results - and if the "improved" doughs would even be considered edible by most people.

Subject: RE: BS: Pizza- good for you!
From: bobad
Date: 27 Mar 07 - 11:56 AM

"That, of course is supposition as they don't know what the mechanics are."

The healthful properties, in the form of antioxidants, that are being evaluated derive from the bran and endosperm which are removed from refined flour, that's probably why they say it would be less effective using refined flour.

Subject: RE: BS: Pizza- good for you!
From: MMario
Date: 27 Mar 07 - 12:08 PM

Not necessarily.

Since anti-oxidant levels RISE during the procedure they were not present at the beginning.

without testing they cannot just assume that because antioxidants are higher in the bran and endosperm BEFORE baking that the *additional* antioxidents come from the bran and the endosperm. In fact, given that longer fermentation times also increase anti-oxidants I would strongly suspect that at least part of the rise in anti-oxidents is due to heat related denatureizing of non-bran components.

So - it is entierely possible that the procedures would be *MORE* effective in the processed flour, as the anti-oxident levels would be practically nil to begin with.

Subject: RE: BS: Pizza- good for you!
From: Scoville
Date: 27 Mar 07 - 12:56 PM

Even at that, pizza doesn't have to be crap. Really, it has the potential to be a perfectly decent meal: Whole-wheat crust, go easy on the cheese and greasy meat, add lots of vegetables.

Subject: RE: BS: Pizza- good for you!
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Mar 07 - 03:35 PM

I have made approximatly 300,000 pizzas. Regular lard based dough with cheese and meats will enable you to reach 400-500 on a cholestrol test.

Whenever I saw a family from India arrive and order a vegetarian pizza I was quick to tell them of the beef lard in the dough.

Subject: RE: BS: Pizza- good for you!
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 27 Mar 07 - 10:48 PM

Just a tip - low fat cheese usually doesn't melt!

Subject: RE: BS: Pizza- good for you!
From: bobad
Date: 27 Mar 07 - 10:50 PM

I use part-skim mozzarella 15% or 17% fat and it melts just fine.