A team of researchers in Italy has a new reason for people to celebrate. The team has discovered that there is no link between obesity and consumption of pasta and in fact, the opposite of it is quite true.
The researchers arrived at the conclusion after scrutinizing the eating habits and lifestyle of over 23,000 Italians. The researchers claim that there is no link between the amount of pasta consumed and the body mass index (BMI) or the waist size of subjects who were studied during the research.
Over the period of the last few years, various studies have highlighted the benefits associated with the so-called Mediterranean Diet. While fresh fruits, plant-based oils, fish and vegetables are considered as a healthy option, the role of pasta in the Mediterranean diet has always been unclear.
This is the primary reason why researchers wanted to take a close look at pasta. The team wanted to figure out whether a Mediterranean Diet is considered healthy because it contains pasta, or whether it remains healthy even when pasta is eliminated from the diet.
According to researcher Licia Iacoviello, pasta forms an integral part of the Italian Mediterranean tradition. Therefore, there is no way to do anything without the fundamental component.
Researcher George Pounis of the Institute for Research, Hospitalization and Health Care Neuromed in Pozzilli says that the research data shows that consuming pasta according to the needs of the individual helps promote healthy BMI, better hip-to-waist ratio and lower waist girth.
The researchers concluded that the people who ate pasta were more likely to follow the Mediterranean Diet. That is, consuming pasta made people move toward the direction of weight loss and obesity management.
The complete details of the study have been published in the journal Nutrition and Diabetes.
