The healthy way to eat pasta

Finally, the news you have been waiting for. Pasta can help you lose weight. Sort of.

In an experiment on BBC TV program Trust Me, I’m a Doctor, presenters found that by cooking, cooling and reheating pasta is significantly healthier than eating it freshly cooked.

Why? The process turns the pasta into resistant starch, which reduced the rise in volunteers’ blood glucose levels by 50 per cent.

Usually, white pasta is broken down and absorbed as simple sugar, causing blood sugar to spike, and your body to release insulin in order to get glucose levels back to normal. After the spike, this can lead to a huge drop which leaves you feeling hungry again.

Cooling and reheating the pasta meant it became resistant to the normal enzymes in your gut that break down the carbs and release glucose in the blood.

Under the supervision of Dr Chris Van Tulleken, the TV show followed nine volunteers over several weeks, with three days of testing after eating differently cooked pastas. They provided daily blood samples at 15-minute intervals to find out what happens to blood glucose after the pasta was slowly digested.

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The conclusion? “We can convert a carb-loaded meal into a more healthy fibre-loaded one instead without changing a single ingredient,” Van Tulleken said. “In other words, our leftovers could be healthier for us than the original meal.”

No pasta in the fridge? Here are some other healthy spring recipes to try. No reheating required.