| Good Health by the Slice |
28 July 2003
|
Italian Research Claims Pizza Fights Cancer
Pizza is the latest food to be tipped as a cancer fighter thanks to a recent study by Dr. Silvano Gallus, of
the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmaceutical Research in Milan. Since the claims of all the studies done
should be taken with some salt (but not so much as to cause hypertension), it is at least good to know
that something better tasting than wheat grass juice is on the list.
Dr. Gallus and his staff interviewed 3,300 people who had mouth, esophagus, throat or colon tumors and
another 5,000 who were cancer free and asked them about their pizza eating habits. Those who ate pizza
once a week or more had fewer incidents of cancer. According to the study, pizza eaters had 59% fewer
cases of esophageal cancer, 34% fewer cases of mouth cancer, and 26% less colon cancer. After digesting
that good news, the study also pointed out that other foods and dietary habits could have a role to play.
Unfortunately, the real story is probably the antioxidant lycopene that turns up in tomatoes and gives
them their color. And since the study was done in Italy, the pizza eaters were not wolfing down the
superior American deep-dish variety, but rather the original, less toothsome sort -- fewer fatty meats and
cheeses, and smaller portions. So, there's no reason to order a large pie with everything just yet.
Dr. Gallus has done the public a huge favor in providing this information -- there is, after all, no choice but
to die some day. And if the price of eternal life were living pizza-free, one doubts whether it would be
worth it. All the same, it is interesting to note that Donatello, Michelangelo, Raphael and Leonardo all ate
pizza everyday to become what they are today -- the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.