You may have heard about the new study that has pasta lovers celebrating their rigatoni's off, as several headlines declared that the often-demonized carbs of our beloved pasta may be able to assist in weight loss.
Could it be true that one of the delicious mainstays of Italian cuisine may also be good for maintaining your waistline?
Here's the skinny: The study, a new meta-analysis published in the journal BMJ Open hit the news desks this week. It found that eating pasta was not linked with weight gain when it was consumed as part of a "low-glycemic index" diet.
These findings are not a free pass to gorge on pasta, but to add pasta as the people in the group did: enjoying 3.3 servings of pasta a week (a serving was one-half cup of cooked pasta).
Paul can recommend some great wine 🍷 to pair up with your favorite pasta dishes - just ask next time you're at the winery!
Whether these new findings "will hold in the context of other healthy dietary patterns, such as Mediterranean and vegetarian dietary patterns, is unclear," the researchers wrote in their paper.
One caveat: you need to be careful when you combine pasta with items like rich sauces, as pasta slathered with a creamy sauce and bread for dipping can raise the roof on the glycemic index -- and your calorie count.
We'll take away the message that moderation is key, and deprivation is no way to enjoy life. A Sicilian friend of ours lives by "Vogio vivere la vita al massimo" which translates to "I want to live life to the fullest" -- we agree with this quote, and say enjoy your pasta, enjoy your wine and treat yourself to a little sweet treat every once in awhile...La Dolce Vita!
Article referenced from Live Science