Scientists from all over the world gather in Milan to debunk five pasta myths and determine its health benefits
One of the world’s most beloved foods has suddenly become one of the most misunderstood. As the 18th Annual World Pasta Day approaches on Sunday, October 25, the nonprofit International Pasta Organisation (IPO) wants to change that by sharing the truth about pasta in order to combat the rise of unhealthy fad diets and misperceptions about carbohydrates.
“We want to tell a story about how pasta can really make a difference at tables all around the world, from both a nutritional and an environmental point of view,” said Riccardo Felicetti, IPO Chairman. “Pasta is a healthy carbohydrate-containing food at the centre of traditional eating patterns around the world, such as the Mediterranean, Asian, Latin American and vegetarian diets and is one of the most environmentally friendly foods to produce.”
World Pasta Day has been celebrated internationally since 1998 to recognize the important role pasta plays in helping feed the world across a variety of healthy and tasty cuisines. In recent years, fad diets touting grain-free eating have proliferated, leading to consumer confusion about the popular staple food.
World Pasta Day & Congress in Milan Oct. 25-27 – To address misperceptions and confirm the benefits of a pasta meal, nutrition scientists will meet in Milan between October 25-27 at the World Pasta Day & Congress, hosted by the Italian Association of Confectionery and Pasta Industries (AIDEPI), during the Expo Milano 2015.
As part of the event, the Boston-based nonprofit Oldways and IPO are organizing the 3rd Healthy Pasta Meal Scientific Consensus Conference. The conference brings together more than 20 scientists and health professionals from around the world to review scientific studies related to pasta and the Mediterranean Diet, published since the last World Pasta Congress in 2010.They will draft an updated Healthy Pasta Meal Scientific Consensus Statement.
“It’s time for pasta to fight back against misinformation about the important role of healthy carbohydrates in everyday meal plans,” said Sara Baer-Sinnott, the president of Oldways, and an expert in cultural food traditions and lifestyles. “It’s been five years since the Healthy Pasta Meal Scientific Consensus Statement has been updated and we look forward to having a new tool to help consumers better understand the role of pasta in a healthy diet.”
Much research already supports the importance of a complete diet, based on traditional eating patterns such as the Mediterranean Diet, in promoting better health, according to Baer-Sinnott.
5 Pasta Myths Debunked – To mark World Pasta Day, the International Pasta Organisation and Oldways debunk the following five pasta myths:
Myth #1: Pasta is from China. False: Marco Polo introduced pasta to Italy from China? A legend, helped along by the 1938 film, “The Adventures of Marco Polo” starring Gary Cooper, which took literary license in depicting the great traveller bringing spaghetti to Italy for the first time (around 1300). In reality, pasta dates back to ancient Etruscan civilizations. Ancestors made pasta by grinding several cereals and grains and then mixing them with water before cooking the mixture into a tasty and nutritious food product. The Italian version of noodles – spaghetti made with durum wheat – had been produced in Sicily for two centuries before Marco Polo made his way back from China.
Myth #2: Pasta makes you fat. False: Pasta does not make you fat. With the right portions and ingredients, pasta can be part of a healthy diet that you follow for the rest of your life. Pasta is at the core of the Mediterranean Diet – recognized by nutritionists as one of the world’s best eating patterns – and it contributes to keeping your weight under control, since pasta is often combined with fresh vegetables, tomato sauce, olive oil and small portions of fish, legumes and other lean proteins. Portion size is a key factor in weight management: A healthy serving of pasta for an adult is one-half to two-thirds of a cup of cooked pasta. As an added bonus, the starch present in pasta is digested very slowly, providing a prolonged feeling of fullness. Those who think that pasta leads to weight gain should consider that Italians eat three times more pasta than Americans, yet the adult obesity rate in the U.S. is three times higher than in Italy.
Myth #3: White colored foods have no nutritional value. False: Contrary to popular belief, lack of colour does not indicate lack of nutrients. Think of natural unprocessed white foods like cauliflower, onions, turnips, mushrooms, white beans, and white potatoes – they are all nutrient-dense foods that are welcome in a balanced diet. Traditional pasta falls in this category and is a healthy food choice, containing important nutrients like folate and iron. Also, pasta cooked “al dente” has a low Glycemic Index (GI) with a better impact on blood sugar. For additional health benefits such as a highercontent of fiber and essential nutrients, there are a number of delicious whole grain pasta options on supermarket shelves. And don’t forget to add colour by loading on the veggies.
Myth #4: Gluten-free pasta is healthier. False: Celebs like Gwyneth Paltrow and Victoria Beckham brought gluten-free diets to the forefront. Yet, while sufferers of celiac disease, an autoimmune reaction to gluten in individuals who are genetically susceptible, must adhere to a strictly gluten-free diet, the rest of us don’t. Keep in mind the group that must avoid gluten is small (1 in 100 people suffer from celiac disease). For those pursuing a gluten-free diet in hopes that they will lose weight, celiac authority and assistant Harvard professor Dr. Daniel Leffler warns that the opposite effect is just as likely and that adhering to a gluten-free diet is often associated with weight gain. Therefore, gluten-free products aren’t necessarily the answer. In addition, gluten positively impacts pasta quality and gives it a specific texture, making it firm to the bite (“al dente”) after cooking.
Myth #5: The wheat we eat today is different than that of our grandparents due to GMOs. False: Today’s wheat grain is not much different than it was 50 years ago, according to Joseph A. Murray, a professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic and the president of the North American Society for the Study of Celiac Disease who has also studied wheat genetics. Genetically modified (GM) wheat is not commercially grown in the United States, in line with European and worldwide wheat producers. And, in response to concerns that today’s wheat contains more gluten, USDA researcher Donald Kasarda, who has been studying wheat genetics for decades, found that gluten content in wheat has not in fact increased.
