Pasta adds the correct number of carbohydrates to balance a Mediterranean diet.
A study recently published in the Nutrition & Diabetes journal shows that pasta is not a primary trigger for obesity. Moreover, taking up a Mediterranean diet might even help to keep the weight under control.
Pasta is traditionally considered to be a comfort food, easy to cook and tasty. Until recently, it has been the first on the list with foods to be taken off the menu for overweight people.
The wheat noodles contains carbohydrates and a high content of calories that make it improper in low-carb diets, which mostly focus on foods that contain lots of proteins.
The study shows that pasta is associated with a lower body mass index when included in a Mediterranean diet.
“We have seen that consumption of pasta, contrary to what many think, is not associated with an increase in body weight. On the contrary: our data show that eating pasta results in a healthier body mass index, lower waist circumference and (better) waist-hip ratio,” said George Pounis, an author of the study.
The survey included data from 23,000 people that were previously interviewed by the Department of Epidemiology from Italy.
The results showed that wheat noodles are an essential component in the diet, helping to balance the body proportions and tighten the waist. Therefore, the carbohydrates could even reduce abdominal obesity as well as the general one.
A more interesting fact is that the researchers tried to take into consideration a broad diversity of diets, as the 23,000 respondents were picked randomly from the Molise region in the south of Italy. The data used in the study had been collected with the purpose of finding correlations between nutrition habits and the general health of the population, and the group was not selected on any particular criteria.
Thus, even if it is possible that pasta works the magic only on a Mediterranean diet, its benefits have also proven to exist even in the case of people who do not control their weight on a regular basis.
The Mediterranean diet involves a lot of fruits, vegetable, olive oil, whole grains, and fish. In such a mix of proteins, minerals and vitamins, a bowl of pasta comes with the right number of carbohydrates to balance the daily meals.
An example of the Mediterranean dish is the Shrimp Pasta, which contains long strand pasta and shrimps, with olive oil for taste enhancement and red pepper flakes for an additional feel of torment.
The wheat noodles contain iron, B vitamins, fiber, and proteins, whereas the Mediterranean diet can lower the risk of heart attack and prevent brain aging.
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