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Pasta and The Heart Healthy Diet

Like everything in nutrition, the heart health impact of pasta is an area of active research. Though there are dissenters, which is good since that's where new ideas come from, most experts agree that pasta is a heart-healthy food.

Made from durum wheat, pasta is a whole grain food. Whole grains are 'whole' because their bran and germ are still intact. Many types of common wheat processing remove that by milling. But since whole grains retain theirs, they are very good sources of fiber. And fiber is an important part of a heart-healthy diet.

Pasta is also typically enriched with folates, a synthetic form of B vitamins that are another component in a heart-healthy diet. Iron, needed to form red blood cells, niacin (vitamin B3), thiamine (vitamin B1), riboflavin (vitamin B2) and other compounds are also part of a whole grain. Those nutrients, along with vitamin E, phosphorus, magnesium and other minerals found in pasta, help regulate blood pressure. That's a major aspect of heart health, since the heart and blood vessels are, obviously, part of a connected system.

Apart from its inherently healthy attributes, pasta helps promote heart health in another way: by forming the base of many heart-healthy recipes. Because of its good taste, physical shape and sturdiness, and the ability to be easily cooked, pasta makes for the centerpiece of many fine preparations.

Provided certain meats and sauce ingredients are used in proper ways and proportions, pasta dishes can readily make for a very heart-healthy meal. Pasta itself is low in calories, cholesterol and fat. A cup (two servings) of cooked spaghetti contains about 200 calories and only a gram of fat.

Pasta primavera, for example, is a great dish for those interested in a recipe that helps maintain heart health while being very tasty. Mix 250g of pasta with about a cup each of snow peas, corn, baby carrots and asparagus. Parboil the asparagus and peas for a few minutes. Parboil the carrots and corn until tender.

Boil the pasta to al dente (firm, not too soft nor undercooked), then drain. Add the other ingredients, then blend with 2/3 cup of low-fat cottage cheese and 2/3 cup of low-fat yogurt. Heat then add a little lemon juice and sprinkle with black pepper.

Tasty, and it's made from ingredients likely to be found on the Mayo Clinic site or other professional nutrition science sites. The result contains less than half a gram of saturated fat and 3 mg of cholesterol, while providing 6g of fiber per serving.

Provided you make judicious use of sauces, meats and other ingredients that often make their way into pasta recipes, you can enjoy pasta frequently and maintain a heart-healthy diet. Those in the Mediterranean do and have among the lowest incidences of heart disease of any culture.