CONCLUSIONS Pasta in the context of low-GI dietary patterns does not adversely affect adiposity and even reduces body weight and BMI compared with higher-GI dietary patterns .
OBJECTIVE Carbohydrate staples such as pasta have been implicated in the obesity epidemic .
It is unclear whether pasta contributes to weight gain or like other low-glycaemic index ( GI ) foods contributes to weight loss .
We synthesis ed the evidence of the effect of pasta on measures of adiposity .
Diets with high or low protein content and glycemic index for weight-loss maintenance.
BACKGROUND Studies of weight-control diets that are high in protein or low in glycemic index have reached varied conclusions , probably owing to the fact that the studies had insufficient power . METHODS We enrolled overweight adults from eight European countries who had lost at least 8 % of their initial body weight with a 3.3-MJ ( 800-kcal ) low-calorie diet .  Participants were r and omly assigned , in a two-by-two factorial design , to one of five ad libitum diets to prevent weight regain over a 26-week period : a low-protein and low-glycemic-index diet , a low-protein and high-glycemic-index diet , a high-protein and low-glycemic-index diet , a high-protein and high-glycemic-index diet , or a control diet . RESULTS A total of 1209 adults were screened ( mean age , 41 years ; body-mass index [ the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters ] , 34 ) , of whom 938 entered the low-calorie-diet phase of the study . A total of 773 participants who completed that phase were r and omly assigned to one of the five maintenance diets ; 548 completed the intervention ( 71 % ) . Fewer participants in the high-protein and the low-glycemic-index groups than in the low-protein-high-glycemic-index group dropped out of the study ( 26.4 % and 25.6 % , respectively , vs. 37.4 % ; P=0.02 and P=0.01 for the respective comparisons ) . The mean initial weight loss with the low-calorie diet was 11.0 kg . In the analysis of participants who completed the study , only the low-protein-high-glycemic-index diet was associated with subsequent significant weight regain ( 1.67 kg ; 95 % confidence interval [ CI ] , 0.48 to 2.87 ) . In an intention-to-treat analysis , the weight regain was 0.93 kg less ( 95 % CI , 0.31 to 1.55 ) in the groups assigned to a high-protein diet than in those assigned to a low-protein diet ( P=0.003 ) and 0.95 kg less ( 95 % CI , 0.33 to 1.57 ) in the groups assigned to a low-glycemic-index diet than in those assigned to a high-glycemic-index diet ( P=0.003 ) . The analysis involving participants who completed the intervention produced similar results . The groups did not differ significantly with respect to diet-related adverse events . CONCLUSIONS In this large European study , a modest increase in protein content and a modest reduction in the glycemic index led to an improvement in study completion and maintenance of weight loss . ( Funded by the European Commission ; Clinical Trials.gov number , NCT00390637 . )
CONCLUSIONS Pasta in the context of low-GI dietary patterns does not adversely affect adiposity and even reduces body weight and BMI compared with higher-GI dietary patterns .
OBJECTIVE Carbohydrate staples such as pasta have been implicated in the obesity epidemic .
It is unclear whether pasta contributes to weight gain or like other low-glycaemic index ( GI ) foods contributes to weight loss .
We synthesis ed the evidence of the effect of pasta on measures of adiposity .