As if you needed another reason to tuck into last night’s spaghetti – a recent study shows that reheating pasta makes it healthier than when it’s fresh out of the pot.
Significantly healthier, in fact.
In 2014, BBC’s Trust Me I’m A Doctor showed that volunteers who ate reheated pasta experienced a 50 per cent reduction in blood glucose spikes, compared to a control group eating freshly cooked pasta.
Your body has a pretty easy time breaking down the carbohydrates in fresh pasta, which means you absorb it as simple sugar really quickly, and your blood glucose spikes when you eat it. Low GI, it ain’t.
But, when you cool and reheat the pasta, it’s harder for your body to break it down, which means you don’t get that speedy spike – or the inevitable hunger-inducing crash. As a bonus point, cooking, cooling and reheating your pasta also boosts the fibre content.
Dr Van Tullekan, who ran the study, told The Independent: “We can convert a carb-loaded meal into a more healthy fibre-loaded one instead without changing a single ingredient, just the temperature. In other words our leftovers could be healthier for us than the original meal.”
So, there you have it. Healthier pasta. And not even grated zucchini or sweet potato pretending; just actual, honest-to-goodness pasta.
Now, someone hand over the leftovers.
No leftover pasta in the fridge? Here’s some other lunch inspiration that might whet your appetite.
Lunch Inspo
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