any individuals consume pasta under the erroneously assumption that it is healthy food. This is based largely on the misconception surrounding the benefit of low fat foods as well as a misunderstanding regarding the traditional diet of Italy. The Mediterranean diet is the traditional diet of populations living in Southern Italy, and this contains protein from birds and fish, dairy, red wine, olives and olive oil, fruits and vegetables, but is absent of products made from refined cereal grains. The longevity and health associated with the traditional Mediterranean diet is therefore not caused by pasta. In fact, pasta dishes such as lasagne and spaghetti bolognaise were popularised largely by Italian Immigrants to America and poor native Italians because they could not afford the finer ingredients to consume their traditional diets. Although pasta may now be popular in some regions of Italy, this has not always been the case.
Of course, limited intakes of pasta will not cause serious long-term ill health. However, larger and frequent intakes will add to the carbohydrate burden of a Western refined diet and accelerate the development of insulin resistance and the deterioration to metabolic syndrome. The nutritional content of a typical pasta dish is actually very similar to that of pizza, another food popularised by Italian immigrants and poor Italians who only had access to refined wheat flour and other cheap ingredients. In fact the marketing of pasta as a traditional and healthy Italian food by the food producers has been a highly successful exercise, but has done nothing to improve health of those who consume such products. Italians that eat a diet of refined carbohydrate in the form of foods such as pasta and bread become overweight and diseased, just like other Westerners.
RdB
