What are some pizza health facts you should know?
- A slice of cheese pizza contains 220-370 calories
- Pizza is a good source of micronutrients
- Eating pizza regularly can lower the risk of cancer
- A serving of pizza provides much of your daily energy
- Adding healthy toppings makes it more nutritious
How long have you been a pizza lover? Think back to the days when you were a child or when you first discovered pizza. Most people I know, including myself, fell in love instantly. I decided that if I had pizza for every meal of the day, I would still be happy. But of course, the parents were there to tell me that wouldn’t be healthy and I shouldn’t.
Pizza is a beloved meal that is also publicly known to be unhealthy. To shed more light on this and give pizza some credit, we’ve prepared some pizza health facts for you! Learn more about the health benefits of pizza and some ways that you make your pizza meals even more nutritious below!
A slice of cheese pizza contains 220-370 calories
When it comes to health facts about food, one of the first things that people always check is the calorie count. So let’s start with that. An average medium-sized cheese pizza slice contains over 220 – 370 calories. The exact calorie count can vary depending on the other toppings, the cooking method, the size, and the crust. To put that into context, the recommended amount of calories for daily intake is 2,000 for women and 2,500 for men.
Fast food pizza has the biggest calorie counts of the types of pizza out there. A slice of typical cheese pizza from a popular fast food chain, like Pizza Hut, is more likely to have over 300 calories. In contrast, frozen pizza is lower on the calorie count list with a 100-gram serving carrying around 260 calories. The pizzas with the least calories would be a plain cheese pizza and a vegetarian pizza with only over 235-240 calories per slice.
As an additional tip, you can order thin and whole-wheat crust for fewer calories, carbs, and fats while also getting more dietary fiber.
Pizza is a good source of micronutrients
With the many possibilities for pizza ingredients for toppings, it’s only natural that you also get a lot of micronutrients from them! Based on the nutritional recommendations of the Institute of Medicine’s Food and Nutrition board, a slice of cheese pizza can give you the following of your daily requirements:
- 45.8% for selenium
- 39.8% for vitamin B₂ or riboflavin
- 31.1% for phosphorous
- 29.2% for vitamin B₁ or thiamine
- 24% for vitamin B₉ or folate
- 23.8% for vitamin B12
- 21.1% for niacin
- 14% for calcium
- 12.8% for zinc
- 12.2% for iron
Each of these vitamins and minerals serves a good purpose in our bodies. They can help keep certain organs healthy, strengthen bones, or even fight cancer.
Eating pizza regularly can lower the risk of cancer
One of the reasons that I always hear other people say for not eating pizza is that it can cause cancer. To be fair, most people say this for any kind of fast food.
Researchers have found that eating more pizza can actually help prevent cancer. Well-made pizzas use tomato sauce, an organic ingredient that contains an antioxidant, lycopene, that can help with the fight against cancer. Because of this, regular pizza consumption has been found to lower the risk of oesophageal cancer by over 59%. It can also reduce the risk for mouth cancer by 34% and colon cancer by 26%. Anything unhealthy surely wouldn’t be a cancer-deterring food!
A serving of pizza provides much of your daily energy
We get our energy from the food we consume every day, mainly from the carbohydrates that we get. This is partly why people say breakfast is the most important meal of the day — because the food we eat then is where we’ll get our energy for the rest of the day. Though it’s not traditionally considered as breakfast food, a single serving of pizza is packed with enough carbohydrates to provide over 27% of your total daily energy.
Adding healthy toppings makes it more nutritious
At this point, it’s clear that eating pizza can provide good benefits for your health, just make sure it’s kept in moderation. We encourage including pizza in your eating plan if you enjoy it, but the ideal frequency is around a few times a month only.
Of course, we would all like to eat pizza more often than that. The good news is that you can do this if you make your pizzas healthier! Make it a habit to choose healthier toppings such as veggies and mushrooms because this gives you more nutrients and less space for additional calories. You can also add your own healthy twist to your pizzas. For example, you can get a frozen-fresh pizza and buy whole food ingredients to make it healthier.
Key Takeaway
All in all, these pizza health facts are meant to inform you about how pizzas can still be healthy. The next time someone tells you that pizza’s unhealthy, you can tell them that it can fight against cancer! Too much of anything is always bad for you, so just make sure you regulate your pizza consumption and you’ll be okay.
If you’re looking for good pizza, try Jimini Whole Pizza! We are the leading brand when it comes to frozen-fresh pizza, boasting our formulation for having the same flavor as freshly-cooked pizza! Jimini Foods Group also carries other Winning Brands for you to choose from! If you’re interested, you can learn more about us here!
