I love pizza! It’s one of my top favorite foods next to kale and cake. And I know I’m not the only one that loves it, either. Recently, the USDA conducted a study which revealed the enormous amount of pizza we consume in the United States. American consumption of cheese increased by nearly 30% in 10 years because the dairy industry is spending big bucks to promote pizza and partner with big chains like Dominos. Congress even voted to declare pizza a vegetable in the school lunch program. The government wants us to eat pizza – a lot of it. But there’s a lot going on behind closed doors that nobody wants us to know or talk about, and it all starts with the ingredients.
When I started researching pizza ingredients, one thing became abundantly clear. Pizza restaurants did not like the questions I was asking.
The only way to find out what may be lurking in your pizza is to review its complete ingredient list, which is often concealed from the public. I began calling the top pizza chains and easily found a couple ingredient lists online. But, when I called most pizza restaurants and began asking questions, they blatantly refused to share ingredient lists and their customer service reps were oblivious to what their ingredients were – they had no clue.
Little Caesars, California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) and Mellow Mushroom have all refused to answer my questions about their ingredients. I was told by Mellow Mushroom’s corporate offices that they will only comply with minimal government regulations, which require them to publish an allergen list.
After sending me their dough ingredients, CPK suddenly claimed that due to “proprietary restrictions” they can’t disclose their full ingredient lists. They went on to tell me that they “don’t have an easy way to perform a search by individual ingredient” and would need to call each vendor first. While traveling, I stopped into a CPK in an airport to ask questions face to face. Both the manager and store clerk had zero access to ingredients. I even asked to look at the packages of their dough and other ingredients that got shipped to the store in and they said they did not have them.
I called many local pizza restaurants and was informed that it’s their policy to NOT disclose ingredients to their customers. Little Caesars literally told me that if I was concerned about what was in it, I “just shouldn’t eat there…” Ha! Don’t worry, I won’t!
Papa John’s also has repeatedly refused to release their ingredient list, which really caused a stir last year with my friend Melanie Warner, author of the processed food exposing book “Pandora’s Lunchbox“. How can Papa John’s claim to have “Better Ingredients… Better Pizza” without telling us what’s really in it? While they say their lack of transparency is due to the proprietary nature of their recipes, they could be hiding some seriously harmful ingredients. After repeated calls to corporate offices and some helpful photos sent to me by Melanie Warner, I was finally able to uncover some details about what is really in their pizzas.
Why are the ingredients so hard to find? Why are they refusing to share their ingredients? What is it that these pizza restaurants don’t want us to know?
Well, I’ll tell you what they’re hiding: Lots and lots of hidden MSG!
Restaurants don’t want to get a bad rap by putting monosodium glutamate (MSG) on their ingredient or allergen statements, so they have found another way to secretly add this potent flavor enhancer to your food, without the average customer realizing it. Instead of letting you know that they are putting MSG in your food, they are using an FDA loophole to sneak processed free glutamic acid into your food, which has the same effect as MSG – all without warning you. They simply use other forms of free glutamic acid (such as Hydrolyzed Soy Protein), which is the main component of MSG. This allows them to have “clean labels” and deceive us into believing their product contains no MSG – when it actually does!
While it’s true that tomatoes and cheese are naturally high in glutamates, they do not have the same effect on the brain as added manufactured free glutamic acid additives. When I talked to Papa John’s, they admitted that these additives are used as a replacement for MSG by the food industry.
It will blow your mind – literally
MSG tricks your brain into believing that what you are eating tastes so great that you want more of it. Your taste buds sense that there is more protein in the food than there really is – which is great for food manufacturers that want to save money by using less or lower quality meat. These ingredients also promote an addiction to pizza so that you keep coming back to order more. Repeat business keeps their pockets lined with lots of cash. Ever wonder why you can’t stop at one slice? This is why.
MSG and hidden MSG additives are known to commonly cause headaches, obesity and depression – and this is just the tip of the iceberg. As an excitotoxin, its effect on the brain is so toxic that it has been linked to learning disabilities, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and Lou Gehrig’s disease. Board certified neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, M.D. warns that, “Excitotoxins have been found to dramatically promote cancer growth… It also causes a cancer cell to become more mobile, and that enhances metastasis, or spread… When you increase the glutamate level, cancer just grows like wildfire”.
This is serious stuff. But the industry will tell you it’s harmless and that you are crazy for being concerned.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that it is okay to eat this stuff occasionally, because these ingredients can stick around in your body for a long time, leach nutrients from your system, and can make you really sick. As put by my pal Kristen Michaelis at FoodRenegade.com, “Not only is MSG not a traditional food, not only are many people immediately sensitive to it, but it can also interrupt the hormonal and biological development of children! Lest you think this is all fanciful, it’s important to remember that a number of studies have found that the effects of MSG can occur cumulatively over time with subsequent exposure.”
Toxic hidden MSG ingredients buried in popular pizza menu items:
- Autolyzed Yeast Extract (Hidden MSG)
- Textured or Hydrolyzed Proteins (Hidden MSG and GMO)
- Hydrolyzed Corn (Hidden MSG and GMO)
- Modified Starches (Hidden MSG or Possible GMO)
- Natural Flavors (Possible Hidden MSG)
- Disodium Inosinate or Disodium Guanylate (MSG enhancers)
The additives Disodium Guanylate and Disodium Inosinate are not added to a product that doesn’t contain MSG because they are considered expensive additives that are ineffective without MSG ingredients. The presence of Disodium Guanylate or Disodium Inosinate in a product is a strong indication that a product contains hidden MSG.
I’m talking about more than MSG here
The ingredient lists that I could get my hands on are riddled with artificial colors, artificial and natural flavors, partially hydrogenated oils, cellulose (wood pulp) to keep the already shredded cheese from clumping, and GMO soybean oil.
Partially Hydrogenated Oils (Trans-fat) – There is absolutely no reason for anyone to still be using this. These oils are so bad that even our FDA has woken up and warns that it’s not safe to eat this in any food. Partially hydrogenated oils block arteries and the CDC estimates that they could cause up to 20,000 heart attacks every year! I found these dangerous oils in Pizza Hut’s hand-tossed crust, Round Table’s Creamy Garlic sauce, Papa John’s dipping sauces and Dominos Philly Steak pizza. Partially hydrogenated oils are found in 21 menu items at Cici’s Pizza – it’s even added to their cheese!
Soybean Oil (likely GMO) – You’d hope to see just olive oil in there, but soybean oil is the oil of choice for most pizza restaurants. It’s in the dough and pizza sauces, so it basically makes its way into every pizza. This genetically engineered inflammation causing oil is being used at these restaurants:
- Papa John’s
- Domino’s
- Pizza Hut
- Uno Pizzeria
- Papa Murphy’s
- Little Caesars
- Cici’s
- Mellow Mushroom – “Soybean oil is a major ingredient in our pizzas”
- California Pizza Kitchen – “our Ciabatta Bread and our Wheat Dough do contain Soybean Oil”
- Round Table Pizza – Creamy Garlic sauce
BHT/BHA (Butylated Hydroxytoluene.Butylated Hydroxyanisole) – BHT is used in embalming fluid and to fuel jets. BHA is toxic to your organs and linked to cancer. These were found in the pepperoni on every ingredient list I looked at from Uno’s to Dominos.
Sodium Nitrite – Whenever this is added to a meat, there is a really good chance that it contains cancer-causing Nitrosamines. Nitrites are often found in the pepperoni, ham, bacon and sausage toppings.
Enriched Flour – This is a dead food that has had some vitamins and minerals artificially replaced. It’s absorbed by your body as a starch, rather than a whole grain. This flour is used in pizza dough, except the gluten-free versions.
Artificial Colors – These are petroleum-based colorings linked to asthma, allergies and hyperactivity. I found them in the banana pepper toppings, the cheese at Cici’s, and specifically in the garlic oil used by Domino’s.
Caramel Coloring – This is often made by heating ammonia and sulfites under high pressure which creates carcinogenic compounds. You’ll find this very controversial coloring in the bacon at Pizza Hut, the Italian sausage at Round Table, the beef at Little Caesars, the zesty pizza sauce at Cici’s and in the BBQ Chicken pizza at Uno’s.
BPA (Bisphenol A) – You won’t find this on any ingredient label, but BPA leaches from the cans that hold pizza sauce in some restaurants. Many fast food pizza chains use canned tomato sauce that could have BPA. This substance exposure increases your risk for cardiovascular disease, breast cancer, prostate cancer, diabetes and a slew of other medical problems.
How these pizza restaurants stack up
Papa John’s – They add a lot to their “Better Ingredients”. For instance, their “100% Beef” topping is a lot more than just beef! It contains corn syrup, maltodextrin, natural flavor, natural smoke grill flavor, beef flavor and seasonings. Also, so much for believing that there is 100% real cheese topping their pizzas, as they add modified food starch (hidden MSG), preservatives and powdered wood pulp (cellulose) to their cheese blend. They also add natural flavors to their thin crust, pepperoni, and chicken topping, as well as hidden MSG (autolyzed yeast extract) to their garlic ranch and spinach alfredo pizza sauces. Those little dipping sauces that come with your pizza are loaded with partially hydrogenated oil, GMOs and (you guessed it) more hidden MSG.
Update: In June 2015 Papa Johns announced they’re removing 14 ingredients by the end of 2016, including artificial colors, caramel color, the preservative sodium benzoate, and hidden MSG ingredients like autolyzed yeast extract and hydrolyzed proteins. They have also listed ingredients on their website (however this list is not entirely complete as they don’t publish the ingredients in some of their seasonings, such as in their beef topping).
Domino’s – One of the few pizza restaurants that openly publishes their ingredients online – and their ingredient list has hidden MSG written all over it. It’s almost impossible to avoid at Dominos, as it’s in their cheese, marinara sauce, white sauces, BBQ sauce and a slew of toppings (chicken, beef, Italian sausage and Philly steak). They also add “flavors” to their pan crust, cheese, pepperoni and shake-on seasoning. The garlic oil used on nearly every pizza is NOT what you’d expect (garlic & oil). It’s actually a toxic combo of over 20 ingredients including artificial colors, artificial flavors and TBHQ.
Pizza Hut – You get a lot more than “100% Real Beef” in this topping loaded natural and artificial flavors. Their sausage and bacon toppings have hidden MSG (autolyzed yeast or hydrolyzed proteins), and you are eating modified starches in their cheese, chicken and cream sauce (starches usually derived from GMO corn). The garlic sauce and seasoning used on every hand-tossed pizza is loaded with natural flavors, artificial flavors and partially-hydrogenated GMO oils. Pizza Hut recently reformulated their hand-tossed crust by replacing the high fructose corn syrup with sucralose (Splenda) – an artificial sweetener that has been shown to cause DNA damage to the gastrointestinal tract, reduces beneficial gut bacteria, and is linked to inflammatory bowel disease. Recent research indicates that sucralose is linked to leukemia.
Round Table – “The Last Honest Pizza” honestly adds straight “Glutamic Acid” to their creamy garlic sauce. They add hidden MSG ingredients to their pizza sauces, chicken and sausage toppings. Their cheese is far from “100% real” with “Natural Smoke Flavoring” and cellulose.
Little Caesars – Although their corporate office told me that their ingredients are top secret, the first gal I talked with admitted that there is yeast extract in their beef topping. I also called a local store and found that their super-secret ingredients were listed right there on the package for anyone in the kitchen to read. According to my local restaurant, their sauce contains natural flavors and the cheese contains wood pulp (cellulose). They also rattled off the beef topping ingredients to confirm it contains yeast extract, beef flavorings and caramel coloring.
Mellow Mushroom – One of the most tight-lipped restaurants I talked to would only admit to the use of soybean oil, which is likely GMO – “Soybean oil is a major ingredient in our pizzas” they wrote to me in an email. Furthermore, when I asked about hidden MSG ingredients, they told me that they weren’t required to tell me since they are not one of the 7 major allergens designated by the FDA and don’t list them on their allergen list. So I decided to go use their allergen tool to see what they do list and found something shocking. The tool gives misleading, inaccurate and potentially dangerous information if you have a soy allergy. For example, I confirmed their crust uses soy, but when you use the tool, it says there are plenty of pizzas without soy. The information doesn’t add up and regardless of whether if you have an allergy, I would not trust Mellow Mushroom until they release the full ingredient lists for their menu.
Uno Pizzeria – They are not much better than the rest with hidden MSG in their BBQ Chicken pizza, Harvest Vegetable pizza, sausage topping and gluten-free crust. I was a bit surprised to see that they also add caramel color, artificial flavors, and a large amount of natural flavors to their BBQ Chicken pizza – it’s totally unnecessary.
California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) – As they were being very difficult in sharing ingredients, I was only able to confirm that the Thai sauce, tomato pizza sauce, pepperoni, salami, bacon, romano cheese, and chipotle sauce do not contain any of the hidden MSG ingredients that I listed. Because they refuse to share an ingredient list, I have no way of knowing whether they contain other additives or hidden MSG that I didn’t ask about – so don’t be convinced that these menu items are clean! I also inquired about hidden MSG ingredients in their other cheeses, BBQ sauce, chicken, sausage and ham toppings – and they have not responded at all regarding those items. Again, I will take their lack of a response as an indication that they do contain hidden MSG until they inform us otherwise.
Papa Murphy’s – It’s all about the sauces at Papa Murphy’s, where there’s yeast extract in their basil pesto sauce and modified food starch in their BBQ sauce, buffalo sauce, creamy garlic sauce and sweet chili sauce. They also add “flavors” to nearly every meat topping available and to their cheese.
Cici’s – They don’t really hide it by adding straight MSG to 10 menu items including their “Zesty” pizza sauce. Cici’s further adds hidden MSG to their buffalo sauce, ranch dressing, bacon cheddar sauce, sausage topping and beef topping. Quite frankly, I can’t believe how bad their “cheese” is – modified food starch, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, (added) casein, aluminum, natural flavors and artificial color! I was also astounded to find high fructose corn syrup in their BBQ sauce and dessert pizzas, as well as carrageenan and propylene glycol in several of their sauces, including the Alfredo.
Are you wondering about your favorite pizza place?
The good news is that you can do the exact same thing I did at your favorite pizza place, and please share the outcome with me!
To get the best results, plan to visit your pizza place during a slow time and not during their dinner rush. This way their employees won’t be rushed and will have time to answer your questions. Right off the bat, ask them if they have an ingredient list to share with you. Most likely they won’t, but it’s worth a try. If their ingredients are not readily available, here’s my game plan for navigating the menu and asking the right questions:
- Typically the safest bet is to stick with a veggie pizza without cheese. This is dependent on what they have lurking in their sauce and crust, so it’s really important to find out what is in those items! Ask them to read you the complete ingredients in the sauce and dough.
- Hidden MSG is most often found in meat toppings, seasoning mixes and creamy sauces – so if you plan to order those things I would ask specifically about hidden MSG ingredients. Ask them if monosodium glutamate, autolyzed yeast, hydrolyzed proteins, modified starches, or natural flavors are in any of those menu items. Which ones?
- GMO soybean oil is usually found in the crust and the sauces. Ask them if they use soybean oil – and in what menu items. Is soybean oil used in their pans? Can they make you a pizza without it?
- Ask them directly if any of their ingredients are GMO. You may be surprised as they may have no clue what you are talking about. Use this as an opportunity to briefly share with them what a GMO is and why you don’t eat GMOs. Let them know that most soy is GMO so if they use soy in any products, it is probably GMO. Their allergen statement should also be able to tell you if soy is used in any product.
- Remember that “garlic oils” and “shake-on seasonings” may contain a bunch of questionable ingredients and MSG. Ask them if there are any specialty oils, butter sauces, or seasoning mixes used on their pizzas. If they can’t tell you the ingredients in those, ask them not to use it on yours.
- Do they use high fructose corn syrup or other sweeteners in their sauces or dough? These sweeteners are probably derived from GMO sources – including “sugar”.
- Most vegetables will not be GMO, unless they have corn, tofu, zucchini or yellow squash toppings. I would avoid those.
- What about cellulose in their cheese? Are flavorings and preservatives added to the cheese as well?
Beware that often times the restaurant employees truly do not know the answers to your questions, and will give you incorrect answers. For instance, they may tell you that their cheese is “100% real cheese”, without realizing that the pre-shredded bag of cheese in the back contains an ingredient list. On that ingredient list, they will likely find cellulose, some preservatives, and possibly some flavors and colors. It’s good to remember that it’s not all that it seems on the surface, and in order to find out what is really in their food they will need to read the ingredient list on the box, bag or can that the menu item comes in. The bottom line – If they won’t tell you what is in their food, don’t eat there.
They don’t expect the average customer to demand answers about their food!
Only four of the restaurants I investigated publish their current ingredient lists online – Dominos, Uno’s, Papa Murphy’s, Cici’s. (Pizza Hut publishes them online, but they admitted to me they aren’t current in an email). As in my Chipotle investigation, I had to be extremely persistent over several months to get the limited information that I did from the other restaurants. This took multiple phone calls, voicemails, emails, and website contact forms – which often went unanswered. I had to ask specific questions about obscure ingredients. They are counting on the average customer to not do this!
On Papa John’s website, they say that their cheese is “crafted from 100% mozzarella and high-quality milk by one of America’s finest cheese producers” – But the ingredients tell the real story. Now we know their cheese also contains wood pulp and modified food starch… and that IT’S NOT 100% CHEESE. When Papa John’s claims in all of their advertising that they have “Better Ingredients”, yet they won’t openly tell us what they are, it’s a safe bet they’re hiding something.
I wonder if any of these restaurants will have the courage to discuss this issue. Will they do the right thing now that we are calling them out, like Chipotle did when they finally released their full ingredient list online for everyone to see? These companies do not deserve our business, until they publish their ingredients online and make them easily accessible to the average customer.
What to eat instead:
Okay, this is the good part! I’m thrilled to say that I’ve found some pizza places that are doing it right!
Pizza Fusion – I called up a Pizza Fusion restaurant and they freely answered every question I had about their ingredients – a big WIN in my book! Their sauce is super simple: organic tomatoes, olive oil, water – and no nasty additives or hidden MSG. They only use olive oil in the restaurant, so you won’t find any GMO soybean or canola oil here. They confirmed with me that their gluten-free crust no longer contains canola oil and that they are diligent about preventing cross-contamination with gluten. I was really happy to find out that all of their meat toppings are antibiotic-free! Their chickens are also fed a non-GMO diet. Many of their veggie toppings are organic and local, and all are non-GMO. This varies and depends on what is seasonally available, so simply ask them which veggies are organic when you order. They have about 12 locations right now, and I really hope they grow into a larger chain so that more of us have access to pizza places like this!
Pure Pizza – I simply love this place. If you are ever in Charlotte, this is the place to go. They have an amazing organic sprouted grain crust, and source their toppings locally.
Truly Organic Pizza – This pizza chain in Florida is USDA certified organic. Because of this, none of their ingredients can be GMO, and all of their meats are antibiotic-free and not injected with hormones. I called them up and asked specifically about hidden MSG ingredients. They told me that they do not use any flavor enhancers such as autolyzed yeast extract or hydrolyzed proteins to season their food. They cook their meatballs and chicken from scratch and only season them with basic seasonings like what we would use at home! This is another great option if you are in Florida.
My Favorite Homemade Pizza Recipe – If you don’t have pizza restaurants like these in your neck of the woods, my homemade pizza recipe is super simple and will be ready in less time than it would take you to order and have it delivered – I promise! This recipe cures my pizza craving in no time!
If you know someone who is ordering or eating pizza with these terrible ingredients, help them make the switch by sharing this very important information with them!
Together we are changing the world, one company at a time, by sharing the truth.
Xo,
Vani
Great article, and there was me thinking I was MSG free. Seriously I’m only eating my own cooked fresh food from now on.
great idea! haha
You are eating pizza, you know it is not healthy. Next you will be telling us about all the surprisingly terrible things you just discovered in lard.
How about doing an article worth value.
I would hate to think I had to analyz all the food I eat, I am 68 years old I love food , MY body tells ME what it can’t eat. I enjoy food, I eat what I want and I will probably live as long as you do, guess what everyone dies and we are living many years longer than previous generations, where everything came from their farm. Get over it, be happy, be content, you have so much more than the 3rd world countries and you wine around and spend your money on what some other idiot has contrived and they laugh all the way to the bank your sad!!!!!!!
Please don’t be a 68 year dummy and confuse the others that want to learn.
Toni makes a good point though. We do all die eventually. People do live longer these days. To over-think about every single item on an ingredient list of a food we enjoy really is a waste of the little time even the “healthiest” people have on this planet.
I’m gonna smoke a cigarette and think about this.
If you want to eat unhealthy then you have the right to do so. However, it is the QUALITY of life that you have by eating better. You can travel more, walk more and do more because your body is not loaded with chemicals. The chemicals that cause joint pain, vision issues and too many to list, keep you from enjoying your life to the FULL extent. I also do not plan on having some form of debilitating disease caused by food chemicals that in the future will keep me bed-ridden with some stranger having to come in and wipe my butt for me.
If you don’t want the information then don’t read it and move on. The ones that come to this site are looking for answers on the food that they eat. The fact that we are being lied to about the ingredients when some of us have food allergies concerns me greatly. I think Food Babe is doing a wonderful job and my body is changing for the better because of it.
Well said. I am 73 and I couldn’t agree more.
Of course, it’s all fine with the “we all have to die sometime” mentality until you’re the one to get sick and then you’re all about rushing to the dr for drugs….
Precious, I have survived two widow maker blockages among other things, please don’t deign to know what I would or would not do.
… really ? … TWO blockages and you’re crowing ? … roll the dice, dude … my grandson just survived Stage 4 Neuroblastoma TREATMENT and I will not wish that on him evermore in his lifetime … he is 6 years old and we’re praying for 1 or 5 or 10 more years for him … who knows ? — not me … but when I was growing up, cancer was for old dudes like John Wayne or Humphrey Bogart … we don’t have real food anymore — it’s mostly created in laboratories — and children now face 12 varieties of cancer … Neuroblastoma claims the health of 48 children EACH day (and the lives of 3 of them EACH day) … I will not roll his dice any more ….
Jim Richards, a bit of a dumbass aren’t you. My CAD problems had nothing to do with cholesterol but don’t let your ignorance get in the way of posting nonsense. I am still here because cholesterol or not, I decided to follow the Dr Dean Ornish regimen . Ornish is a real cardiologist whose program is the only one proven to reverse CAD and not a ‘Food Babe.’ My condolences to your grandson. Too bad he has a dumbass for a grandfather. Done
Interesting. You say people should eat what they want including pizza but you then explain your health problems . You also look overwieght in your picture. You would have more credibility if you actually were healthy and in shape. So based on what your saying to be healthy I can either take the advise of a “fitness babe” or take someone who is sickly. I guess you can call me shallow. I would like to stay in shape and look like a fitness babe too. No Pizza, donuts, and garbage for me!!!
To Robert: Looks are deceiving, sonny. I have learned over 73 years not to trust a blog for nutritional information. You would do well to do the same.
you serious im only 14 but like seriously ur 74 act more mature and stop fighting!!!!
Food used to be better for us. There isn’t nearly the nutrients in it now as in the old days. So, if you want to live to be old and be on tons of meds, don’t worry about all the chemicals you’re eating. You can live to be old and feel good though.
Toni you have lived a nice long life – eating as you please. I am 53 and did the same. My first 22 years of life, at home, was spent with my mom cooking everything from scratch, getting veggies from the neighbors garden and fast food ONLY on vacations – twice a year. We ate well! We grew up and our bodies developed without GMO’s and additives. When our parents purchased items from the grocer they were what they appeared to be – not altered. I am very new to the eating clean way of life – but it makes sense to me. If I had young children, I would absolutely feed them this way. There just has to be a link between ADD, autism and autoimmune diseases (that I see in my friend’s children) and our food. Praise God my boys are ok …
Amanda,
My son is Autistic. I praise God for him, too. But yes, what a great God to make sure YOUR boys are ‘OK’.
“There just has to be a link between ADD, autism and autoimmune diseases (that I see in my friend’s children) and our food. ”
There just ‘has to be’ ?
Really?
Because it would make you feel better to prove that the food industry big business is deliberately poisoning consumers than to spend a few years actually getting a decent education on the long term effects of the practice actually responsible for the increase in just about every increased medical issue to date?
It’s medicine.
Not Big Pharma – not added drugs in our water and our air.
Surprised?
Disbelief?
Let’s take a look.
It’s actually Advanced Neonatal care.
Advanced obstetrical techniques and practices.
A medical leap from the days when a child born at 32 gestational weeks had little chance at a normal life – if she survived at all – to knowing that today – even babies born at 24 gestational weeks can be and are saved.
24 gestational weeks. A baby that has spent barely over half the time needed to develop in the womb can now be saved.
And they have been saved – by the millions – for 3 or 4 decades we’ve been increasing our technology and medicine to save babies who would have been considered lost to miscarriage or still birth.
I’m one of them.
So are two of my three children.
I wouldn’t EVER trade them in for a world without autism.
I love my kids and they have a right to be here- but the reality – the very uncomfortable reality – is that our very existence is a problem for the gene pool.
We’re saving babies mother nature didn’t think viable.
Those babies – my children and I – and *millions* of others- carry physical health challenges that we’re passing down to our our children – and as we marry, to the children of those born without the complications we often carry hidden within our genetic code.
Higher rates of autoimmune diseases, ADHD, Autism Spectrum disorder, etc etc – the list goes on and on.
We’re saving lives – and we’re adding health issues.
In ever nation with a lower rate of surviving pre-term birth you find a lower incidence of any of the concerns we see here.
Because they’re not saving the babies who had serious enough complications in the womb to make it to a healthy birth.
I’d never say we ought to stop saving these babies.
But we need to admit it.
We’re saving the lives of children who have medical complications we couldn’t begin to understand and the price is autism. The price is autoimmune disease. The price is a higher rate of celiac disease, of inflammatory bowel disease.
The price is a higher incidence of food allergies of all kinds –
In short, the price of saving these tiny lives is that everything that would have killed them in the womb, WE are now living with as they grow up, as they have children of their own, as they add more and more of these risk factors to the gene pool.
Did I say they?
That’s me.
That’s my kids.
That’s likely your friend – or her husband – -or one of THEIR parents.
The friend with the who children struggle with these issues.
I wouldn’t trade my children’s lives in order to avoid dealing with these issues.
I bet your friend wouldn’t trade her kids either.
Not for anything.
So let’s stop blaming the big bad bogeyman for the perfectly normal side effect of saving lives.
Farmers have known this for generations – if you allow the weakest members of the herd to breed, the entire herd deteriorates.
Humans aren’t any different.
You don’t have to like the truth.
I sure don’t.
But that doesn’t change the facts.
Toni has a great point. We should all eat what we love to eat and develop our own intuition on what we can digest and not digest and what gives us energy.
Pizza is awesome, and I used to eat it 3 times a day (3 large pizzas a day) along with 2 boxes of pasta.
I am going to go back on my pizza diet after reading this very informative article.
By the way, all the negative compounds in pizza can be neutralized through just drinking a lot more water throughout the day.
Good thing you grew up in an era without prevalent and institutionalized poisons in your food. It’s also good to know that your tongue and stomach are carcinogen detectors. You ought to be the subject of some serious medical research!
And now you’re in a great position to just throw this generation under the bus with your foolishness, and claim your rightful place as a member of the longest-lived generation of Americans for all time. You are the one who is truly pitiable.
Toni, you are right. We will all die someday, and unhealthy people are living longer. But I myself do not want to spend my years at doctors appointments, pharmacies, etc. And there were plenty of people living long lives before. Many men on the frontier such as Daniel Boone and Joseph Walker, without constant drugging, lived to older ages, and were active right up to near the end.
Toni is 68 years old an still an idiot. I guess morons will always be morons. Just because you got the luck of the draw and haven’t been diagnosed with any severe problems doesn’t mean it applies to all human beings. Everyone is different. What worked for you might be a devastating problem for someone else. This is not a one-size fit all word.
Toni – You came to a website called foodbabe.com, read an article about precisely what you say you don’t care about, and left a poorly-written comment complaining about the very nature of the food babe.com website? Why? Were you hoping that it would be a site about hot chicks smothered in food or something?
Don’t be a troll. They’re so boring and just plain stupid. If you don’t care about the topic, add the word “porn” to your “babes and food” Google search.
P.
Tony, you are either a troll or a dumb ass!! lol :):) Continue to pound the msg, gmo’s and one day when the pile up on these toxins clog your liver up you will wish you CARED what was in the food you were eating.. Good luck with that one mr. troll D.A. 🙂
Toni, Since you are 68, more than half of your life was probably clean eating, as this stuff was not available when we were kids. Fast foods and convenience foods have taken over our society with all of the additives, chemicals and preservatives to lengthen shelf life and enhance flavors. Incidence of disease is on the rise with Alzheimer’s, Diabetes, Kidney, Heart and Liver Disease. Inflammation caused by the food we eat. Yes, we can take medications to lengthen our lives in spite of disease. That does not take care of the cause. The bottom line is the all mighty dollar. Less real food with more additives and flavorings, less quality at a higher price. And Big Pharma to push the pills. I for one feel much better since I have given up a lot of the fast foods and sugary drinks. I still enjoy my food. And I am 70.
This is a foolish way of thinking, especially since young people nowadays come up with horrible diseases. My best friend is 27 years old and she has cancer. She’s been eating a horrible, additive filled diet all these years and I’m convinced that has impacted her health severely. I also know many young people who are struggling with strange diseases, allergies (myself included) and food intolerance, people that I’ve known for years and who have not had these problems in the past. Please do not be fooled! “we all eventually die” is a horrible, disrespectful thing to say when someone who is 30 dies of cancer…and it’s not all genetic.
Toni, I respect your right to eat what you like without undue analysis. I’m happy for you that you’re fortunate enough to eat what you please without getting sick. Some of us aren’t so lucky. My son (11 years old) has a chronic inflammatory condition that is exacerbated by certain foods.Those of us who read this blog do so because we want to maintain our health and understand why we (or our children)might not be feeling our best.
You have the right to eat what you like. No one is saying you can’t eat food additives or artificial colors. But those of us who wish to know do have the right to know what’s in our food.
Toni, look around! Do you seriously not think there is a problem with the American diet? And by the way, we are NOT living significantly longer nowadays, when you account for infant mortality which brought down the average in the past. With our medical advances we should be much healthier today, yet we are not! Smokers who lived to be 90 used to have the same mentality about tobacco as you now have about food additives. It is the same faulty logic. This is a great website!
Eating out is proven to be more expensive than preparing your own meals. Please enjoy your Papa Johns pizza as they laugh all the way to the bank at your sadness. Why so much hate for someone giving healthy eating tips? Jealousy? Guilty conscience? Spare tire? too much time riding the electric cart at walmart and disney land? Besides maybe some of us like articles so we dont someday look like jaba the hut.
Well said Toni
Yeah, but as we see every year there are more and more ill people, the diseases are getting younger and people dye younger. Generations become more and more weak. You should mention it, especially in your age and compare times. How people health were before and how is it now!
Thanks for the research! If people care about what they’re eating, they should be making their own pizza since it is so easy. We live in the age of convenience and companies constantly under pressure to make more money… so even though I’m sure progress will be made, it will never go away entirely because there will always be people who are more concerned about price and profits than health.
Thank you for posting this! I am new to foodbabe.com and the #1 question that pops into my head after reading every article is:
Why are these harmful ingredients allowed in our foods? WHY?!
Can you back up any of what your saying? You provide criticisms without evidence. Your comment is therefore about as worthless as those people who make reviews about products on Amazon who either didn’t understand what they’re buying or just don’t know how to explain their problem intelligently.
And for the record MSG is quite dangerous. So not everything on this blog is “misinformed, misleading, and often dangerous.” Certainly the stuff written about is dangerous, which is what she is trying to tell us. Says a lot for your credibility.
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/monosodium-glutamate/faq-20058196
You also may want to check coffee, Starbucks was named in a university report about lab rats. They add MSG to their coffee.you can also check with Beyond the Olive in Pasadena Ca. about imported olive oils. Most of the time they are not pure olive oils. Only olive oil produced in the U.S. Have to keep their products pure. Pretty much most chain restaurants use all sorts of GMO’s and MSG.
I never eat at those chains. I make my own pizza out of whole wheat pita bread and fresh ingredients. When I want to eat pizza out, I go to a local small family restaurant owned by Italians since 1954 and order their homemade pizza.
Good information and much appreciated. It’s good to call these guy out! However having worked in the restaurant industry for many years, I do not think that demanding information from your server or counter person is an effective way to get information. Many if not most are wage slaves, are unknowledgeable , or don’t care or are so overworked and harassed that taking the time to go into lengthy discussions of ingredients they are unaware of (do you think the companies really educate them about their products?) would actually be putting the onus on the wrong people. Better to call or email the corporations and then vote with your $$$ the one and only thing they really care about, not the poor, overworked employees…just a thought.
While I cannot speak for other resturants I can speak for one on your list called mellow mushroom. If you call specific mellows they will give you the ingredient list mine that I work at has the whole ingredient list published and in reference to your soybean oil comment yes most pizzas will have that but that is from the ingredients u choose to put on your pizza first of all. Second of all the dough is vegan which you can’t find at most resturants and we offer gluten free options mellow is very proud of the vegan and gluten free options and if you called one of the resturants rather than corporate you would be given the answers you seek!
I love pizza and I will eat it, as long as they don’t spit on it lol
Well you better quit now. I can assure you that your pizza has been spit on.
You may be right. But after all Homemade stuff is always the best even if it doesn’t taste as good as the fast foos.
Hello, does anyone know whats in Chicago’s Giradano’s deep dish pizza?
Doesnt matter Pizza, Breads, Pasta, Cookies and Cakes should all be avoided if you want to be a fitness babe like me.
I am appreciative of this articlle. I am a natural trained nutritionalist and i consut to ones about natural health nutrition and transitional weight. I love to eat organic wholefoods and alays read my jingredients on all my packages when i shop i. Reg markets. If people dont care about what they put into their bodies than they are definitely not loving themselves or life. Ive had cancer in the past and thats what bought me to my everlasting senses. Thank you ever so much for this article i have posted on facebook.
Two quick points- the pizza you investigated is nothing more than corporate created versions of pizza.
Corporate Food is killing us! EAT LOCAL!
I challenge you to go to local traditional pizza parlors such as the ones that dot the streets of NE Cities (and CHicago) and watch as they prepare the pizza- fresh vegetables, fresh cheese and many especially the oldtimers are using the yeast strains from 20-50 years ago.
Back to basics and eat local and stop eating Monsanto, ADM and CARGILL drugs they are feeding us!
Did you happen to come across Mario’s pizza? There are locations in Ga.
I love the pizza just to see who will take care of and how do
I emailed Costco concerning their Pizza incredients, here is their reply:
Dear Jeff,
We appreciate you taking the time to email Costco Wholesale.
We use Kirkland Signature Olive Oil in our pizza dough that is used for our pizzas. The pizzas do not contain any of the below ingredients:
High Fructose Corn Syrup
Animal Products
Corn Syrup
Hydrogenated Oils
Lard
Artificial colors/dyes/flavors
Nitrites
Mono-Glycerides
Di-Glycerides
Mono- & Di-Glycerides
Hi-Oleic (Oils)
Potassium Sorbate
Sodium Benzoate
Bleached (Flour)
Our Pizza Dough does contain:
Flour
Water
Olive Oil
Sugar
Salt
Yeast
We have also attached the nutritional information for our food court items. Hope this information helps. Please let us know if you have any further questions or concerns.
Thank you,
Elizabeth R
Member Service Center
Costco Wholesale Corporation
MSG is not listed on there…?
I like that they gave info, but what about their cheese? They just included dough. Pizza is dough, sauce, cheese, and toppings. It’s great they gave a reply, but I’d like to know about EVERY part of the pizza. They use the chest they still I imagine. Kirkland brand, I guess.
This is a fine article, and one that we all need to read: Many of the items on ingredients labels are there to hide MSG and other ingredients.
But there’s a lot of people who haven’t done their research in the comments. GMO’s are not causing autism, among other deeply held and incorrect convictions expressed here.
I’m with the Little Caesar’s guy. I worked at Starbuck’s in college, and some customers would try to cross examine me to find out what the ingredients were. Newsflash: PROCESSED FOODS HAVE UNNATURAL INGREDIENTS. Did you really have to call Pizza Hut to find out that their tomato sauce isn’t made on site from Farm Fresh tomatoes? If you don’t want to eat processed food, good for you, but then don’t go to a fast food establishment.
I think we should just stay away from most restaurants. Moderation in all things. Including exercise. 🙂
I agree !!!
Excellent article!! Thank You So Much. Just have One Question…What about Costco’s Food Court “Fresh Baked Pizza”?
Have you heard of Naked Pizza? http://www.nakedpizza.biz It is supposed to be all natural and whole ingredients with several locations across the US!
Just letting you all know that round table officially grates their own mozzerella, cheddar, and provalone cheese blend- but few locations are turning into a new chain called “Terra Vino.” But I never bothered reading out ingredient lists in anything, I dont think ill ever be eating at work again lol.
found a list of ingredients for Pizza Hut today while looking for the garlic sauce ingredients
the quest I was on showed me here, as well as
http://www.pizzahut.com/files/pdf/ph_ingredients.pdf
thank you for the “food for thought”
Thanks for the comment. This list on Pizza Hut’s website is outdated from 2006 and some ingredients have changed. They don’t publish their current ingredient list online.
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I love you Food Babe!!! We’ve been eating your little at home organic pizzas, and they’re way better than any chain pizza! Read lots of your articles. Keep up the great work! Mr and Mrs Hall from Colorado.
If you are ever in Los Angeles, you must try Fresh Brothers Pizza!
I’m curious about cellulose (wood pulp). I have seen this listed in a large number of products as a filler, and referenced here in your article. Is it actually harmful or bad for you? I had someone ask me ‘do I want to be eating wood pulp?’ I’m not sure. I eat broccoli stalks and other stems. If it’s organic wood pulp is it ok? I have yet to find a source that definitely says cellulose/wood pulp is bad for someone to consume. Thanks!
Try this pizza: http://www.nardonebros.com/
Nardone Brothers since 1942 – all ingredients are listed for every product in great detail.
Pizza is Pizza. In moderation, theres not a problem. The best pizza bar none, is “Buddy’s” in Michigan. Next, is the Wal-Mart pizza with adding our own tasty extras. Other than that, if i live to 94 like my dad… And, possibly lose 2 or 3 years off the back side because I love pizza, (and a few wines) it probably won’t mean a thing concerning the big picture.
However, if I do get to 94, I might think otherwise. (21 more years to go)
What you’re eating is NOT pizza.
Not one of the places that you’ve eaten at or suggested has real pizza.
I live in NY. I’d NEVER eat at any place you list.
The pizza I eat has dough, real cheese and homemade tomato sauce.
I read your scary pizza heading and was ready for some eye opening epiphany.
I laughed , when I saw your research into the world of “Pizza”.
Try some real pizza , you may not realize that you’ve never eaten pizza.
So wait, take out pizza isn’t good for me? I’m shocked! Shocked, I tell you!
While there’s many truths in pizza. looking toward pizza and pizza makers for healthy, wholesome foods is like asking a bullet about to hit your skull, to not hit you. If you seriously want healthy,wholesome foods then seek those foods. it is not a excuse or a reasoning to not eat pizza. Its simply pizza’s themselves are generally not good for you. So no reporting was really needed to find out what most already know. Pizza isn’t good for you. No shocker there. And aside from non-healthy most businesses not just a pizza place would have issues disclosing their ingredients. It has very little to do with safety or hiding over people trying to replicate their recipes. True unhealthy food manufacturers do this but so do healthy ones. Its all about protecting their investments. So when Little Ceasers made its reply to you. It was more to do with the protection of its recipe, over if it was healthy or not. Try reporting on organic food makers and asking about specifics on their recipes. you’ll get similar responses and lack of sharing. And if you want a typically unhealthy food to be healthy, or more healthy. Make it at home with ingredients you know to be healthy. As pretty much any place you go to for pizza will have a form of unhealthy or more. Unless it strictly goes out of its way to be healthy. Though you will not get unhealthy food places to “suddenly” conform to healthy. That’s a fools errand. So either eat one made at home, or seek a pizza place strictly marketing healthy.
really nice reading your article and I am very proud to say our pizza shop offers none of that everything made in house including the pizza sauce best cheese on the market only olive oil list goes on but I do have to point out that honestly nothing these days is good for you even if you make it at home they all have chemicals somehow or another
It what wold can you put pizza and cake in the same favorite food category as kale!!!!! Get a hold of yourself!
Everyone reading this should realize that Chain Pizza is mostly crap, and should make it their mission in the next few weeks to thoroughly explore their local Mom and Pop pizza places. Find a couple of favorites and stick with them! Buy local, you know? And don’t bother them with all your questions about ingredients. Just sit there and watch them make some pizzas. If they use a bin of flour to make their dough and have dozens of cans of tomatoes with which they make their sauce, and a few fresh vegetables they sprinkle on pizzas, you can be pretty sure it’s good pizza, which, by definition, is good for you!
Vani,
A few months ago I found Little Caesars pizza dough ingredients online on their website. I went looking for it because shortly after eating two pieces I started having breathing problems like asthma through the rest of the evening into the next day. I knew it was the pizza because I hadn’t eaten anything else that day and it started 30 minutes after I ate. The ingredients list amount about 30 ingredients there it was……azodicarbonamide! Immediately I looked up a few other pizza restaurants and they all had it. I didn’t look up Mellow Mushroom. Even my favorite Mom and Pop locally owned LaRosa’s here in Cincinnati had azo in the dough. I called their corporate office and complained. They said they were already removing it. Azo…causes breathing problems. What the hell…..theres nothing to eat out anymore;-(
Better ingredients? Pizza dough should contain: Water, Yeast, Flour, Salt, Olive Oil. Maybe a bit of sugar if blooming the yeast in water. But that’s it. If a “pizzeria” has pre-made, frozen pizza dough, then it’s typical fast food garbage. The same goes for the pizza sauce. If they don’t make it & it comes straight out of a can, people shouldn’t eat there.
Like I said in another post, business is supply and demand. If “we” demand better, “they” will have no choice but to give it to “us”. But people won’t do it. American’s are weak and lazy. Why do you need to get coffee from Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts? Because you’re lazy. You can buy a coffee machine that you can program to make coffee when you wake up. You buy it once. After a while it pays for itself and even saves you money.
Why do people eat from boxes, packages and cans? Because they claim there’s no time to cook. Watch 30 Minute Meals and learn to cook fresh food quick. Also, it’s like the monkey cage. The first time in there you’re shocked by the smell. But the more you’re in there the more you get used to it. Then someone new comes and says it smells terrible and you say, what smell?
Get out of the monkey cage. Take time to breath fresh air.
No you are not crazy at all! I am a fellow oesssbed ingredient list reader too and I can’t believe so many people still never take a glance. Recently I’ve been learning to cut out GM foods too, thanks for the encouragement! And Kimberly I know at our house we bake our own bread or buy organic bread, also when you cut out GM foods and other bad non-real foods, you kind of have to accept the casualties. Meaning, there are no boxes of crackers, or cookies or cereal at our house (although we do like pretzels). You kind of have to learn to make all those things at home yourself. Even the seemingly healthful foods could have corn syrup and soy in them.
Loved your article.
No wonder they don’t want to share the ingredients……
Great article. I already had knowledge of some it’s content, but a lot of it was a learning experience!
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MSG is a neuroexitotoxin which exites the neurons to death, that’s why after eating it you have a headache . Vali, she is an amazing young woman with the brains and the right pozitive to take walls down of this prison we all live in. Thank you for your time and energy, this country needs more smart woman to follow the same path.
Indeed, salt does taste good.
I’m curious, do you know if the pizza dough contains azodicarbonamide?
Thanks!
LaDonna Taylor
Great article. I will share it with my friends.
Any input about BLAZE PIZZA?
I’m scared to ask, but did you look into Brixx?
Does anyone know if Costco’s snack bar pizza is MSG free?
Vani,
How about dimethylpolysiloxane as an ingredient in cheese and fryer oils?