LEGUME-BASED PASTA AND SATIETY

Studies show that legumes, such as dried beans, peas, and lentils, can help regulate appetite and improve body weight and blood glucose (sugar) management. This is probably due to a combination of factors, like soluble fibre, plant protein, and other plant compounds, such as polyphenols. Legumes also have a low glycemic index (GI) and low GI foods have been shown to increase satiety and reduce hunger.

Despite their benefits, most people don’t eat legumes regularly or in the amounts likely to provide health benefits. But what if you could get your legumes from your pasta?

This could be a great way for pasta lovers to enjoy their favourite food and get the health benefits of eating more legumes. Switching to legume pasta might also help with portion control according to a new study from Italian researchers who found that legume-based pasta can improve satiety and reduce subsequent food intake when compared to regular durum wheat or gluten-free pasta.

Researchers compared four pasta types—lentil, chickpea, durum wheat, and gluten-free (corn and rice)—in two experiments. The participants were healthy adults who were regular pasta eaters (at least 5 servings per week). Participants ate all meals on separate days, in a random order. On each study day, participants were asked to eat the same low-fibre breakfast at the same time, and then nothing until their test meal.

In the first experiment, people were served an ad libitum (all-you-can-eat) test meal and instructed to eat until comfortably full and then complete a palatability questionnaire immediately after the test meal. This protocol was designed to assess energy intake from within the meal. This is known as satiation, or the process that leads to termination of eating and therefore controls meal size.

In the second experiment, people were served an isocaloric (same-energy content) pasta meal and asked to consume the whole portion within 15 minutes. They completed questionnaires assessing desire to eat, fullness and satiety before, immediately after consuming the meal, and every 30 minutes until the ad libitum (all-you-can-eat) buffet. After 2 hours, they were served an ad libitum buffet comprising a variety of foods. People could eat as much of each food as they liked. Energy and macronutrient intake of the meals and what they ate from the buffet were calculated. This study experiment was designed to assess energy intake at the subsequent meal. This is known as satiety, or the process that leads to inhibition of further eating, also known as inter-meal satiety.

The researchers found that:

• participants consumed about 20% less energy when eating the lentil or chickpea pasta compared to the durum wheat pasta
• after (post)-meal satiety was greater after the lentil and chickpea pasta compared with the durum wheat pasta in women
• there was a reduction in the desire to eat and higher fullness ratings following the lentil pasta compared to the other meals in both men and women

The legume-based pastas received lower ratings for taste and texture compared to durum wheat pasta and the authors note that reduced palatability may have affected how much the participants consumed in the first experiment. However, this is unlikely to have adversely affected the findings of the second experiment.

The study authors conclude that lentil-based pasta seems to affect the energy intake both within a meal and at a subsequent meal, particularly in women. Their findings suggest that consuming legume-based pasta might increase legume intake and help to modulate appetite. However, further studies are needed to support these findings, including longer term studies and studies in different populations. And why the lentil pasta seemed to have greater effects compared to the chickpea pasta is unclear.

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