THIS is National Pizza Month, so please pause for a few moments to look around you and take in the physical devastation caused by mass consumption of one of the most disgusting foodstuffs ever invented by man. I am talking, of course, about commercial-grade pizza, not various forms of the authentic Italian food, which sometimes approaches the sublime. I saw a man the other day who looked about 15 months pregnant and instantly I had a vision of greasy boxes and rubber cheese. This poor man will probably lose 10 years or so of his life because of Papa Johns or Domino’s or some frozen pizza-esque roof tiles he routinely pulls out of his freezer. I found myself pondering his wife. How could she allow such a thing? Well, who knows. She is possibly suffering from pizza-induced Alzheimer’s herself and has stopped cooking altogether.

Do you know even hotels are in on it now? The Holiday Inn in Fargo, North Dakota offers a special pizza package that includes one large Domino’s pizza with two toppings. It is painful for me to remember all the slings and arrows I have sustained over the years in talking about such a controversial subject. I have often been accused of alarmism and absolutism. But when I look at such a glaring and obvious victim of pizza consumption as the man I mention above, when I think of him possibly checking into a hotel room in Fargo, I know that I will never be silenced.

The Pizza Industrial Complex is so vast and, well, complex, it sometimes seems impenetrable. The truth is I have been often operating on hunches and educated intuitions, not real investigation. However, an enterprising and hard-working blogger (Warning: an immodest photo here of her eating pizza) has done some serious research into the ingredients of this manufactured foodstuff. The Food Babe, as she calls herself, was stonewalled by corporate offices, but persevered and eventually got lists of ingredients. She found that the pizza giants, with the full support of the government, are lacing their pies with various forms of MSG. This is not shocking news in the least.

The Food Babe writes:

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.

So, you see, dear reader who has accused me so thoughtlessly of worrying too much all these years. Pizza is poison. And there are powerful forces that want you to eat it.

— Comments —

Joe A. writes:

My father was a commercial food product R&D man, so I am reporting lessons learned growing up in the biz.

MSG has its share of problems although there is an anti-MSG front that is every bit as loud and “in your face” as anything concocted at Berkeley. Most of the hysteria surrounding MSG is from hucksterism although I am not and will not deny that some people are especially sensitive to it, myself included.

Having said that, MSG is a naturally occurring substance.  It is found in significant amounts in the healthiest of healthy foodstuffs including soy, tomato, cheese and even seaweed, where it was first isolated a century ago by a Japanese scientist IIRC.

Pizza is the perfect storm of MSG with soft cheeses, concentrated tomato sauce, and almost all the pepperoni or sausage toppings favored by tens of millions of pizza feeders.

Asian food is almost categorically its own MSG Hot Zone, especially if you add what amounts to “10 molar” MSG from soy sauce to your kelp wrapped sushi. (Of course, since March 2011, MSG is the least of one’s concerns with sushi additives.)

So the answer to MSG is pretty simple:  as with any food additive or seasoning, use it properly and in moderation to make your food taste fantastic.  Put it on broccoli (another Italian contribution to the American diet) and the kids will gobble it up!  But don’t dump it on by the tablespoon.  You wouldn’t do that with salt and pepper, so don’t do it with MSG or anything else for that matter.

Now if you really want to start a foodwar, examine to phenomenon of “hot sauce” lovers and the biochemical reaction on the tongue that comes from a direct assault on the integrity of the cellular structure.

Laura writes:

Interesting.

Carolyn writes:

I agree with the Food Babe. My husband had Parkinson’s disease and was greatly helped by diet: Dr. Blaylock, the Paleo Plan, and especially a wonderful Dr. Wahl from Iowa State University who has MS and has virtually cured herself and many many others with food. (You can see her on TED). She is doing a lot of new research. We must be careful of what we put in our bodies….since it mostly converts to sugar form all the wheat products. Just look at the grocery aisles…wheat, wheat, sugar, sugar.

Paul writes:

I can verify that whatever is in pizza causes the eater not to realize he or she has had enough.  I can eat enormous quantities of pizza in one sitting, and have done so.  For example, I confess to eating almost two whole Domino’s medium pizzas in one sitting on several occasions.  The price is right.  So I have given it up and have lost fifteen pounds and still counting with exercise.  A local delicacy and equally capable of packing on the pounds is French bread dunked in coffee.  I can eat a whole loaf with margarine.  If by chance any is left over, I just put it in the oven the next day to crisp it as my Sicilian grandmother taught me.  Longer than the next day is too long.  I don’t touch it anymore because it has the same power as pizza.

Mike writes:

What comes to mind to, first and foremost, after reading your posts on the ‘Pizza Industrial Complex’ is personal responsibility. The fact the man you mention is overweight isn’t so much about the food he chooses to eat as it is about the man’s continual decisions to consume so many calories and burn so relatively few. Maybe Pizza makes it easy, but the world is full of foods that are equally unhealthy.

About ten years ago, I lost about 50 pounds. (Since then, I have kept it off.) To put the number in perspective, losing the weight required burning 175,000 calories more than I consumed – the equivalent of skipping entirely 70 days of ‘normal’  eating. Conversely, gaining the weight required consuming that much more food than I burned. To pin that level of caloric imbalance on a single type of food vastly over-simplifies fundamental problems with the way I was living my life. Fixing the problem hasn’t been about eliminating classes of food as much as it’s been about continually choosing to eat less, continually choosing to exercise more, and realizing making these choices is a life-long challenge.

Laura writes:

As far as I know that pregnant man doesn’t eat pizza, but I would be surprised if he doesn’t eat a lot of junk and if he eats home-cooked meals. And, yes, he obviously lacks restraint.

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