Pasta isn't fattening, and can actually help you lose weight

You’d be hard-pressed to find a meal as overwhelmingly demonised as pasta when it comes to weight-loss, but a new study has found that under the right circumstances, it’s not actually that fattening. 

In fact, pasta can actually help you maintain a healthy weight, Italian researchers have found, thanks to a study involving more than 20,000 people.

You might not have noticed, but in recent years, we’ve seen something of a quiet revolution when it comes to food. 

The traditional 'bad boys' of a healthy diet - butter, salt, and eggs - are starting to be redeemed through new research, with studies challenging official US dietary recommendations that have persisted for decades in spite of scientific evidence.

And now researchers are telling us there’s no point in avoiding pasta either. 

Let’s be clear though - no one’s saying you should load up on butter, creamy pasta, and salty eggs. The old adage, "Everything in moderation," has never been more pertinent. 

As researchers from the Neuromed Institute of explain in a new study, when eaten as part of a healthy Mediterranean diet, pasta is your weight-loss friend.

"In popular views, pasta is often considered not adequate when you want to lose weight.  And some people completely ban it from their meals," says one of the team, Licia Iacoviello.