Pasta Isn’t Fattening, Italian Study Finds

The carb-heavy Italian staple tends to leave us feeling bloated – the dreaded “pasta baby” – and is often seen as something to avoid when going on a diet.

Before we reach for the rigatoni, it is important to note the study’s limitations. So in that vein, eating noodles may actually be quite healthy for you.

Where did the story come from? But the authors take pains to point out that they were independent from funders, and that funders “had no role in study design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data”. The research was conducted by Italian scientists, of course. While funding for the INHES study was provided by Barilla and by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development.

However, the outcome is partly because those who ate pasta did so as part of a healthy Mediterranean diet.

Let’s be clear though – no one’s saying you should load up on butter, creamy pasta, and salty eggs. However, if the results of a recent study are confirmed, this omission may soon be a thing of the past.

“We have seen that consumption of pasta, contrary to what many think, is not associated with an increase in body weight, rather the opposite”, mentioned Pounis.

Meanwhile, Iacoviello says fans of the Mediterranean diet can eat pasta as they would other components of the diet – in moderation.

Although pasta is often kicked to the curb when embarking on the Mediterranean diet, this no longer needs to be the case.

What did the research involve? It was found that pasta intake was not connected in any way with weight gain.

Started in March 2005, it involves about 25,000 citizens living in the Molise region. The correlation between pasta consumption and lower obesity rates are independent of all diets. The researchers also looked at the waist-to-hip ratios, which is used as a way to measure obesity and other health risks. According to a separate report from The Telegraph, the diet could help preserve brain cells and prevent a variety of illnesses like diabetes, heart disease, breast cancer, skin cancer or melanoma, dementia, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s.

‘Pasta intake could therefore be mainly a marker for adherence to this kind of diet, ‘ he suggested.

How did the researchers interpret the results?

Both in women and men, the population of obese people was older, at a lower socioeconomic status and had higher hip and waist circumferences. Let us know your opinion below.

First: INHES, one of the studies that the authors referenced, was funded by Barilla S.p.A.-which, as any regular visitor of the pasta aisle knows, is a major manufacturer of pasta and pasta sauce.

Is eating pasta a big no-no for people who want to lose weight? Depending on their consumption and body measurements, this may affect findings. Not only does pasta consumption lead to satiation but it also reduces overall fat and abdominal fat.