Pizza Hut Pizzas Have More Salt in the U.S. than in Other Countries
The Chain's Thin 'N Crispy Meat Lover's Was Saltiest of 565 Surveyed
December 18, 2014
The American version of Pizza Hut's Thin 'N Crispy Meat Lover's pizza was identified as the saltiest of 565 supermarket and restaurant pizzas surveyed in 11 countries. Five Pizza Hut pizzas in the United States are on average 70 percent saltier than the same Pizza Hut pizzas in Canada and New Zealand, according to a new international survey released earlier this week by World Action on Salt & Health.
Pizza Hut’s Pepperoni Thin ‘N Crispy Pizza (pictured) in the United States has the most sodium out of all 565 pizzas surveyed, with 1,080 milligrams of sodium per 3.5 ounces of pizza.
"If Pizza Hut can serve less salty pizzas to their customers in Canada and New Zealand, the company should be able to slash salt levels in the American versions of the same—and all its other—pizzas," said Michael F. Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which reviewed the data collected by WASH. "It is probably not a coincidence that health officials in Canada and New Zealand have been more active on sodium than officials here at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration."
The only pizzas that could be compared between the United States and other countries were five Pizza Hut varieties that CSPI identified in the United States, Canada, and sometimes New Zealand: the Veggie Lover's and Pepperoni Pan pizzas and the Veggie Lover's, Meat Lover's, and Pepperoni Thin 'N Crispy pizzas. Data was collected in 2014 by WASH from the Pizza Hut corporate websites in those countries. The WASH survey included pizzas from Papa John's, Domino's, DiGiorno, and other takeout and supermarket brands, but those brands did not include comparable styles of pizza in the United States and other countries.
Pizza Hut's slices in the United States were not only saltier, but on average 40 percent larger than in other countries. The larger slices probably encourage people to eat more pizza—and more calories, sodium, and saturated fat. Because of the larger slices and higher sodium content per ounce, one large slice of Pizza Hut's Veggie Lover's Pan Pizza in the United States has over 3.5 times as much sodium as one slice of the same pizza in Canada. On an ounce-for-ounce basis, that Veggie Lover’s Pan Pizza in the United States has 2.4 times as much sodium as in Canada.
Considering whole pizzas, Pizza Hut's Meat Lover's Thin 'N Crispy Pizza in the United States has 9,440 milligrams of sodium—that's four teaspoons' worth. And that's at least four times what an average adult should consume in a day. Per ounce, Pizza Hut's Pepperoni Thin 'N Crispy Pizza in the United States has the most sodium out of all 565 pizzas surveyed, with 1,080 milligrams of sodium per 3.5 ounces of pizza.
According to CSPI, high-sodium diets contribute to high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes, and kidney disease and are estimated to cause around 100,000 preventable deaths each year in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists pizza as one of the top 10 sources of sodium in Americans' diets.
"How much more evidence does the FDA need to see before it starts protecting the public's health from foods that are healthier abroad than in the United States?" asked Jacobson.
The sodium levels of the five Pizza Hut pizzas in the United States and in other countries were:
