Why Leftover Pizza Might Be Healthier

Summary

Why Leftover Pizza Might Actually Be HealthierResearchers have discovered that cooling starchy foods—from pizza to rice—creates “resistant starch,” a carb that behaves like fiber and alters your blood sugar responseBy Tom Lum edited by Kelso HarperVIDEOThis video is part of “Innovations In: Type 1 Diabetes,” an editorially independent special report that was produced with financial support from Vertex.Tom Lum: On the surface, this may look like your garden-variety Internet fun fact, the kind that you half remember and try to retell at a party, like ...On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.[Lum pretends to be a guest at a party. He is holding a slice of pizza and talking over music.]Lum: Did you know I read somewhere that leftover pizza is actually better for—uh—so how do you know Lauren?But the secret is that this is just the surface of the fact, and the deeper we go, the more fun and weirder the science gets.Because your first thought on hearing this is probably “Why?” Why is leftover pizza healthier for me? And the answer has to do with what happens when you cool the delicious crust. When you cool a pizza to below 40 degrees Fahrenheit, some of the starches in the dough will start to mingle together to form these long chains called resistant starches.They resist digestion, and another word for a carbohydrate that resists digestion is fiber! And even if you reheat the pizza, the chains stay intact, so your body doesn’t break them down to sugar. They mostly pass through.This could help reduce blood sugar spikes for people with diabetes or people who just need more fiber for a healthier gut. And this seems to work for a lot of starches, like rice, pasta, potatoes—even beans and lentils. Heating then cooling the starch changes its proper...