A nutritional nightmare

Jessica Young

February 17, 2003

Pizza is the quintessential college pig-out food, and ever since Sbarro joined Norris University Center’s dining arsenal Fall Quarter, it has done dynamite business.

“The Italian food at Norris now is much better than it used to be, and Sbarro is pizza that’s better than other corporations,” said Mike Emmons, a Weinberg junior. “It’s better than Pizza Hut. It’s better than Domino’s. It’s better than Papa John’s.”

Paul Komelasky, district manager of SodexhoUSA, NU’s dining service, said while the salad bar and Wildcat Wok remain Norris’ most popular eateries, Sbarro is “extremely popular.”

Ladell Moore, the supervisor at Sbarro, said students love their Sbarro’s because it’s different than other pizza-place options.

“It’s made fresh several times a day, and all of our ingredients are fresh,” he said. “Plus the kids are getting a nice amount of food for their money.”

Sbarro might be fresh and hearty, but is it healthy?

Most dining halls and on-campus eateries provide on-site nutritional information. Sbarro doesn’t volunteer any, yet its menu includes the most fattening foods served at Norris.

Relative to the other eateries, Sbarro meals have the most calories, according to statistics provided by Sbarro Inc. One slice of cheese pizza contains 486 calories. Once a single topping is added, students can tack on at least 100 more calories. A piece of sausage- and pepperoni-stuffed pizza is 967 calories.

By comparison, a cheeseburger and fries from Varsity Grill, weighs in at 423 calories, and a turkey ham sub from Sub Connection, rounds out at 396 calories.

“That really is a horrendous amount of calories and fat and grease,” Emmons said after hearing the figures. “But it’s pizza. What do you expect?”

Are pizza-obsessed students blind to its nutritional pitfalls?

Nicole Hand said every time she goes to Norris around mealtime she marvels at the line of people waiting to dig in to the Italian offerings.

“The line at Sbarro winds around the corner, while there are only a handful of people waiting at any other given restaurant,” said Hand, a Communication sophomore. “Pizza and pasta are probably the most unhealthy things I can eat here, but I love it.”

Even non-pizza dishes at Sbarro have higher calorie counts than a burger and fries or a sub. Sbarro’s meat lasagna contains 824 calories, and spaghetti and sauce contains 911 calories. These numbers are based on portions suggested by Sbarro Inc., so they might vary depending on SodexhoUSA’s generosity.

Michelle Neely, a nutritionist at WholeHealth Chicago, said she recommends spaghetti over pizza to the health-conscious student.

“Spaghetti is actually less saturated than pizza, even though it has got more calories and fat grams,” Neely said. “Cheese and butter is what really makes the pizza saturated. There are all the wrong types of fats in pizza.”

Sherry Belcher, a nutritionist at Nutrition Specialists Inc. in Chicago, emphasized looking beyond calorie counting to see if nutritional needs are being met.

“Some of Sbarro’s food isn’t too bad, because it’s got a little meat in it, so at least you get your protein levels met,” Belcher said. “But there’s still an awful lot of sodium and fat and very little trace minerals per slice of pizza or per serving of other dishes, even when compared to other Italian restaurants.”

Some dishes do have a disproportionate amount of saturated fat. The meat lasagna at Sbarro has 22.2 grams of saturated fat and 41.2 grams of total fat. This represents 111 percent of the daily recommended amount of saturated fat. An order of baked ziti has 21.2 grams of saturated fat and 42.3 grams of total fat, which translates to 106 percent of the recommended daily dose.

“I should have figured as much, but I didn’t think Sbarro was quite that bad nutritionally,” said Veedra Francis, a Communication graduate student. “Knowing me, I’ll still eat there, but the numbers will make me give it a second thought.”

Both Neely and Belcher said they suggest students eat at Sbarro in moderation and be more health-conscious with their meals for the remainder of the day when they do decide to go Italian. Belcher said it’s a good idea to eat side salads with unhealthy foods to get a more balanced diet.

Neely said students should eat more fruits, vegetables and whole grains after eating pizza.

“Try to get … something like cereal, bread or rice in the remainder of your diet,” she said. “Students can easily get this at a Thai or Japanese eatery. Also, look for some leaner meats like chicken, fish or tuna for protein to supplement a daily diet that already includes pizza.”

Neely said she accepts that many college diets are going to include it, and an occasional slice isn’t going to “kill” anyone.

Tim Mulvey is fine with that assessment.

“There’s an idea of pizza being iconic and a staple food for our age group,” said Mulvey, a Weinberg sophomore . “There’s very little nutritional content, but no one expects pizza to be healthy. You have to make a concerted effort to eat nutritionally on campus anyway, so why not have something you like?”

The skinny on fast food favorites

Item Amount Calories Total Fat

McDonald’s Big Mac 7.6 oz. 590 34 g

McDonald’s Crispy Chicken 7.7 oz. 500 26 g

Burger King original Whopper 304 g 760 46 g

Burger King chicken sandwich 204 g 560 28 g

Sbarro cheese pizza 1 slice 486 17.8 g

Pizza Hut cheese pizza 1 slice 240 10 g

Papa John’s cheese 1 slice 283 10 g

Sbarro pepperoni pizza 1 slice 591 26.8 g

Papa John’s pepperoni 1 slice 303 12 g

Pizza Hut Meat Lover’s 1 slice 250 11 g