Want to lose weight? You may want to put pasta on the menu

Pasta can help cut your body mass index when consumed as part of the Mediterranean diet, claims new research from IRCCS Neuromed in Pozzilli, Italy.

Shedding those extra kilos has never been tastier. Turns out, pasta can help cut your body mass index when consumed as part of the Mediterranean diet, claims new research from IRCCS Neuromed in Pozzilli, Italy.

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The research, published in Nutrition and Diabetes studied more than 23,000 people and their eating habits in two epidemiological studies conducted in Italy.

Consumption of pasta is not associated with an increase in body weight, claims a new study. (Shutterstock)

“By analysing anthropometric data of the participants and their eating habits, we have seen that consumption of pasta, contrary to what many think, is not associated with an increase in body weight, rather the opposite,” said George Pounis, first author of the paper.

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“Our data show that enjoying pasta according to individuals’ needs contributes to a healthy body mass index, lower waist circumference and better waist-hip ratio,” he added.

Although the benefits of the Mediterranean diet are now firmly established, this is the first study to examine pasta’s role in it.

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