Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet, Carbohydrates and Q & A Thursday

The next question I’ve received in Q & A Thursday is all about pasta. Fiona asks:

What is the healthiest kind of pasta? Is buckwheat/rice pasta a healthier option (even if we don’t have a wheat intolerance) or wholemeal wheat pasta? Personally, I seem to mix it up a lot and have buckwheat / rice, organic white pasta and wholegrain pasta? I have pasta probably twice a week and have started bulking them up with more emphasis on the vegetables rather than the pasta, but I’d just like to know. which pasta!

The health value of pasta

Pasta is primarily made up of carbohydrate – in fact raw pasta is about 70 percent carbohydrate. Wheat pasta also contains fibre, some protein, B vitamins, along with small amounts of iron and potassium. However, it’s main role in our diet is as a low GI source of energy.

The best type of pasta to eat

My advice with pasta, as it is with most other foods, is to eat a variety. While they have nutritional similarities, different pastas do have slightly varying nutrient profiles. For example, wholemeal pasta has more potassium, fibre and B vitamins than normal white pasta. While buckwheat pasta has more potassium again, along with small amounts of Omega 3 essential fatty acids.

To sum up

• There’s nothing wrong with including pasta in your diet.
• If possible I would mix up the different types of pasta you use. It’s adding to the variety of foods in your diet, which is always a good nutritional strategy.
• Just be careful of the amount of pasta you eat. It’s easy to base a whole meal on pasta and end up eating too much of this food.
• Try to mix plenty of vegies in with your pasta, either by making a vegie-heavy pasta sauce, or by cooking vegetables in with the pasta itself.
• Alternatively have a smaller portion of pasta, with a big green salad on the side.

Q & A Thursday

This post is part of Q & A Thursday – a weekly burst of blogging, where you get to dictate the subject matter. Q & A Thursday is all about simple, practical and sensible answers to food, diet and health dilemmas sent in by readers. If you have a question you’d like answered, then either leave a comment or send me an email.

23 August, 2007