Pasta Consumption and Cardiometabolic Risks in Older Adults with Overweight/Obesity: A Longitudinal Analysis

Area of Science:

• Nutrition Science
• Cardiovascular Health
• Dietary Interventions

Background:

• Low Glycemic Index (GI) diets are known to improve cardiometabolic risk (CMR), particularly in individuals with insulin resistance.
• The specific impact of pasta, a common low GI food, on CMR requires further investigation.
• Older adults with high CMR are a key demographic for understanding dietary impacts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the longitudinal association between pasta consumption and various cardiometabolic risk factors in older adults.
• To determine if pasta consumption influences body weight, BMI, waist circumference, blood pressure, fasting glucose, HbA1c, HDL-cholesterol, and triglycerides over time.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from the PREDIMED-Plus trial, including approximately 6000 older adults.
• Assessed pasta consumption through cumulative average intake from food frequency questionnaires over two years.
• Employed energy-adjusted daily servings and linear regression models to analyze the association between pasta intake and CMR outcomes.

Main Results:

• Higher pasta intake was significantly associated with greater decreases in body weight, BMI, and waist circumference over two years.
• Each additional daily serving of pasta correlated with a significant reduction in body weight, BMI, and waist circumference.
• Substituting pasta for white bread, white rice, or potatoes led to greater reductions in body weight and BMI, with additional benefits for waist circumference and diastolic blood pressure when replacing specific foods.

Conclusions:

• Replacing refined carbohydrates like white bread and white rice, or even potatoes, with pasta may be a viable strategy to reduce cardiometabolic risk in older Mediterranean adults with overweight or obesity.
• These dietary substitutions appear feasible within certain gastronomic contexts.
• Further research is needed to confirm these findings in diverse populations and to fully elucidate the potential CMR benefits.