Study: Pizza Takes a Slice Out of Kids’ Health

Have you ever wondered what that occasional pizza may do to your diet or long term health?

Cooking with Kathy Man

Children, teens consume more calories, fat and salt on days they eat this American staple.

On the days your kids eat pizza, they likely take in more calories, fat and sodium than on other days, a new study found.

On any given day in the United States in 2009-10, one in five young children and nearly one in four teens ate pizza for a meal or snack, researchers found.

“Given that pizza remains a highly prevalent part of children’s diet, we need to make healthy pizza the norm,” said study author Lisa Powell, a professor of health policy and administration at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

“Efforts by food producers and restaurants to improve the nutrient content of pizza, in particular by reducing its saturated fat and sodium [salt] content and increasing its whole-grain content, could have quite broad reach in terms of improving children’s diets,” Powell said.

Pizza’s…

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