It's the junk food junkie's wildest dream come true -- pizza as health food.

University of Maryland food chemists said on Monday they had found ways to enhance the antioxidant content of whole-grain wheat pizza dough by baking it longer at higher temperatures and giving the dough lots of time to rise.

Antioxidants are substances that protect cells from damage caused by unstable molecules known as free radicals. Some experts believe antioxidants can lower the risk of cancer, heart disease and other ailments.

Lucy Yu, a food chemistry professor, said the findings arose from broader research into ways to improve health-promoting properties of wheat-based food products.

"The reason that we chose pizza is just because it is a very popular food product, not only in the U.S. but worldwide," researcher Jeffrey Moore added.

"So we thought if we could find ways to improve (its antioxidant) properties, doing this for such a product could have a larger impact on public health," Moore added.

But Moore had a slice of advice for pizza aficionados who might want to cover theircrustwith mounds of fatty toppings like extra cheese, pepperoni, sausage and ground beef.

"If you're adding back all these other things that have potential negative health consequences, then you're negating anything that you're adding in terms of (health) value," Moore said.

The research wasserved upat a meeting of the American Chemical Society in Chicago, a mecca for thick-crust pizza.

“垃圾食品”狂热者们最美妙的梦想实现了--比萨被认定为健康食品。

马里兰大学的食品化学专家们于本周一公布，他们已发现提高全麦比萨生面团中抗氧化物含量的方法，即用更高的温度烘烤、延长烘烤时间及生面团发面的时间。

抗氧化物是一种能够保护体内细胞免受不稳定粒子自由基破坏的物质。一些专家认为，抗氧化物能够降低患癌症、心脏病等疾病的风险。

食品化学教授Lucy Yu说，这些发现源自一项范围更广的、有关如何提高全麦食品中所含有益健康成分的研究。

研究员杰弗里·摩尔说："我们之所以选择比萨作为研究对象，主要是因为比萨是一种十分流行的食品，不仅在美国如此，在世界各地都很流行。"

他说："所以我们想，如果能找到提高比萨中所含抗氧化物的方法，那么为这样一种食品做研究将能对大众健康产生更大的影响。"

但摩尔对那些想在比萨外壳上加很多如奶酪、辣味香肠、腊肠或牛肉粒等浇头的比萨爱好者们提了一条建议。

摩尔说：“如果你把那些不利于健康的东西又都给加了回去，那之前加进来的有益物质都起不到作用了。”

这项研究在美国化学研究学会在“厚皮比萨之乡”芝加哥召开的一个会议上公布。

Vocabulary:     
crust : the hard outer portion or surface area of bread（面包外壳）
serve up: 提出；提供；端出（菜肴）