Scottish food scientists invent ‘healthy’ pizza

Scottish food scientists claim to have created the world’s first nutritionally balanced pizza, which provides 30% of an adult’s recommended daily amount (RDA) of vitamins and minerals.

The pizza has been developed by University of Glasgow scientist Mike Lean and entrepreneur Donnie Maclean and contains the proper proportions of calories, proteins, carbohydrates, fats, salts, sugar, fibre, vitamins and minerals that humans require for a balanced meal.

To create the healthy pizza, the scientists have added locally grown seaweed to the dough to cut down the sodium levels and provide vitamin B12 and iodine.

They also fortified the pizza with magnesium, potassium, folates and vitamin A, and added mixed red peppers to the sauce for extra vitamin C.

Maclean said that a long time was spent in refining the recipes to get the proper nutritional and taste balance.

"I’m confident that once they try our pizzas and realise that a balanced meal doesn’t have to taste bland or like cardboard, people will happily choose them so that we can make a difference to the nations’ health," Maclean added.

The pizza comes in flavours such as Cheese and Tomato, Ham and Pineapple, and Spicy Chicken, and will be commercially launched by Eat Balanced, a firm established by Maclean.

The pizza was given the Best New Idea award at 2012 Food and Drink Expo in Birmingham, the largest food trade show in the UK.

Currently, Eat Balanced is in talks with a major British supermarket retailer for distribution. Lean and Maclean are already trialling a recipe for nutritionally balanced curry, and plan to develop healthy fish and chips in the future.