Written by Richard Davis
MERRILLVILLE, Indiana, Friday, April 24, 2007 — /prbuzz/ — If that heavenly slice of pizza pie from your grocer’s freezer is raising your cholesterol level, just wait. You soon may be able to have your cake and eat it too. An Indiana man has developed a way to add heart healthy plant sterols to baked goods and he is now pitching the concept to some of your favorite fast food pizzerias. It’s the pizza gourmet’s wildest dream come true an FDA-approved heart-healthy all natural cholesterol-lowering pizza pie.
Heart Healthy Road Pizza™ is the brainchild of Ira Scott, a beverage executive living in Valparaiso, Indiana, but who works in Chicago, a Mecca for deep-dish, thick-crust pizza. Scott has developed a new slender California-style heart-healthy super-thin-crust pizza dough that exceeds the FDA’s new coronary heart disease health claim for plant sterols and plant stanol ester. Each slice and/or serving (depending on the size of the pie) of Heart Healthy Road Pizza contains a gram of Kosher-certified VitaSterols™ natural plant sterols, pizza aficionados who have tried Scott’s experimental pizzas, say it taste like ordinary delivery pizzas, and they would go for an extra slice or two if it really drops your cholesterol as Scott claims it will work.
“I had the idea for a health pizza several years ago, but no one would listen,” exclaimed Scott, “I eventually worked with some plant sterol experts and designed a method to incorporate plant sterols into the pizza dough and into the cheese.” said Scott. “I believe Heart Healthy Road Pizza is the perfect vehicle to help lower cholesterol,” said Scott, who has already approached
some well-known chains with the idea, including, Pizza Hut, Papa John’s, Domino’s and Godfather’s Pizza. He thinks it’s only a matter of time before a Yum! Brands executive will call him about his new pizza innovation. In the mean time he is calling on mom and pop pizzerias to try out his new patent-pending pizza recipe. The all-natural heart healthy frozen pizzas will be offered to convenience stores and natural food chains such as Wild Oats and Trader Joe’s.
Upon review of existing evidence, the FDA concluded that “there is significant scientific agreement that plant sterols/stanols reduce total and LDL cholesterol levels.” The FDA authorized a health claim describing the relationship between dietary intake of plant sterols and reduced risk of heart disease. That health claim states that “Foods containing at least 0.65 grams per serving of plant sterol esters, eaten twice a day with meals for a daily total intake of at least 1.3 grams, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease.” In a recent study; researchers at the University of California, Davis, gave study subjects 1 gram of plant sterols twice daily for an eight-week period. Subjects included both men and women, with normal and borderline high total cholesterol. Total cholesterol was reduced by approximately 8 percent and LDL-C fell by almost 13 percent.
“Vegetable consumption in the United States is not ideal for maintaining healthy cholesterol levels, especially since these important plant sterols are difficult to absorb, thus exacerbating the dietary deficiency,” says Cecilia McCollum, Blue California’s Executive Vice President. “In addition, a complete bio-availability study to determine the degree of absorption and the effect on cholesterol from dietary supplementation with this new ingredient is being considered at this time.” said McCollum.
Plant sterols are clinically shown to lower cholesterol as a part of a heart-healthy diet*
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
* Please consult your physician or registered dietitian for the best overall health plan, and ask how products with plant sterols can reduce your cholesterol. For more information visit http://www.VitaSterols.com or http://www.VitaSterols.info
