Pizza is good and good for your health

The different raw materials found in the plant and animal world and the foods that can be obtained from them have always followed and sometimes enabled the evolution of humans on planet Earth to the present day. This selective process has often been based on successive mistakes and refinements, but it has allowed us to identify the ingredients best suited to our survival by going on to create dishes that have taken on a traditional and cultural and social value not secondary to the nutritional value they can offer.

These preparations have also increasingly met sensory needs, and the result of this painstaking work are the'dishes of tradition' that often associate taste, important nutritional properties as the result of empirical experimentation over thousands of years.

Current gastronomy has rediscovered the taste of ancient recipes and Food Chemistry scholars extol their nutritional and/or nutraceutical value , confirming that tradition in many cases is synonymous with the best choice from all points of view.

Pizza is more than just a food and represents, together with other food excellences, our Made in Italy in the world. Many people try to imitate pizza, but the 'pizza verace napoletana' stands out for its taste and undoubted nutritional qualities.

In the study conducted at the Department of Pharmacy in the Food Chemistry laboratories of Professor Alberto Ritieni, just published in Antioxidant, the nutraceutical potential of 'Pizza Napoletana marinara,' which is included in the register of traditional specialties guaranteed (TSG), was evaluated, comparing it with that of other 'marinara' pizzas prepared with ingredients other than those stipulated in the production specifications.

The health assessment of 'Pizza Napoletana Marinara' was based on its antioxidant potential, total polyphenol content, and lycopene content; comparing it in different types of marinara pizza.

The basis of the study is the proven health-promoting action of antioxidant compounds in preventing inflammatory, allergic, atherogenic, thrombotic processes, and chronic-degenerative diseases (heart disease and cancer). In addition, the intestinal and gastric bioaccessibility of antioxidant compounds, i.e., how much they are actually available in physiological processes, was also evaluated. The results of the study showed that 'Pizza Napoletana Marinara' STG has higher antioxidant potential and polyphenol and lycopene content than other 'marinara' pizzas.

In addition, it was confirmed that the choice of ingredients used in its preparation seems to be crucial in making polyphenols and lycopene more bioavailable and therefore more useful for our health.

This study confirms the nutritional importance of traditional preparations that arise from trial-and-error processes and confirms the nutraceutical potential of 'Pizza Napoletana Marinara' STG as a dish rich in especially bioavailable antioxidant molecules to play their health role.