Health Benefits of Pasta from Italian Research
Pasta Consumption & BMI, Waist-to-Hip Ratio
This just in from a recent Italian study: eating pasta has been shown to help reduce the chances of becoming overweight. Enjoy your favorite carb, guilt-free! The study also showed that a pasta focused diet may lead to a trimmer waistline and a slimmer belly. Sounds good to us!But wait! Don't go and eat as much pasta as you want! Everything in moderation! Remember, even though eating pasta has many benefits due to its nature as a complex carbohydrate with low GI, the proper portion size to reap these benefits is about a baseball's worth of noodles. These pasta carbs digest over a longer period of time, allowing your body to feel satisfied and full for a longer time, meaning you'll be less likely to overeat or snack between meals, leading to a lower caloric intake at the end of the day.
Ideally, you'd couple your pasta intake with other Mediterranean foods which make up one of the healthiest diets in the world: the Mediterranean diet. Italians and others in the region have been eating this way for centuries, and this study shows the positive benefits of doing so. Even though pasta is healthy, you must balance these carbohydrates with proteins, vegetables, and fruit to achieve a truly nutritious diet.
Source: Pounis G, Di Castelnuovo A, Costanzo S, et al. Pasta consumption is negatively associated with body mass index and waist to hip ratio: results from Moli-sani and INHES studies. Nutrition & Diabetes. 2016;6:e218. (Source link: http://www.nature.com/nutd/journal/v6/n7/full/nutd201620a.html?foxtrotcallback=true)