01.Introduction
Pizzas get a bad press from nutrition experts. A pizza can deliver an entire day’s allowance of saturated fat and salt in just one meal, and can pack in plenty of kilojoules – definitely not good if you’re watching your waistline. At the same time, a good pizza is truly delicious, so it’s not surprising they’re one of Australia’s favourite foods.
CHOICE compared more than 190 brands and flavours available nationally from supermarkets (chilled or frozen) or from takeaway chains. We found some big differences in nutritional value. Pizzas with vegetarian, seafood or chicken-based toppings generally have the least saturated fat and salt.
We asked three experts to rate the healthiest pizzas from each of the major brands. None were outstanding, but the tastiest pizzas came from the three big takeaway chains, Pizza Hut, Domino’s and Eagle Boys. A chilled pizza from Aldi that you cook at home also rated well. But our experts were seriously unimpressed by frozen pizzas you heat in the oven at home.
This isn’t to say your local Italian restaurant doesn’t make the best pizzas – but unfortunately we couldn’t include individual restaurants in our test as their pizzas are too variable, whereas the chains make pizzas to a standard formula.
21 May 2009
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Although there’s nothing wrong with takeaways occasionally, many contain too much salt and saturated fat for regular eating.
24 Jun 2008
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The most common problems in our volunteers’ diets were too much salt and not enough calcium, fibre and water.
3 Feb 2010
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Supermarket shelves are crammed with shelf-stable meals, costing between $3 and $5. We sort the best from the rest.
24 Sep 2007
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As you stroll the aisles of Aldi, Woolies or Coles, do you wonder whether the growing number of supermarket-owned premium varieties are worth trying, or if they’re inherently inferior to "name" brands?