Pizza reduces cancer risk: study

Eat more pizza. That’s the message from Italian researchers who say eating more of the doughy pie can actually cut the chance for certain cancers.

The secret?

It’s likely in the tomatoes, researches said, according to a BBC report.

The lycopene in the sauce is actually an antioxidant that can lower the risk of developing oesophageal cancer by 59 percent, the researchers said.

Moreover, pizza eaters can lower their risks for colon cancer by 26 percent, and for mouth cancer by 34 percent, the researchers found.

At the same time, researchers cautioned that eating pizza is not a cancer cure, in and of itself. Healthy lifestyles and diets also contribute.

The research stems from comparing the pizza-eating habits of 3,000 of those with certain cancers versus 5,000 of those without, and finding that those who comprised the latter group ate pizza at least once a week, BBC reported.

“We knew that tomato sauce could offer protection against certain tumors, but we did not expect pizza as a complete meal also to offer such protective powers,” said Dr. Silvano Gallus, of the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmaceutical Research in Milan, who led the research, told BBC.

Other scientists urge caution, however.

Nicola O’Connor, of Cancer Research UK, said in the BBC report: “This study is interesting. …But before people start dialing the pizza takeaway, they should consider that pizza can be high in saturated fat, salt and calories.”