Inspiration for new pasta comes from heart

Wouldn't it be good if your favourite pasta could also save your life. Photo / 123RF

Scientists in Italy have developed a new type of pasta that can help ward off heart attacks.

While dietitians might frown on people gorging on spaghetti carbonara or creamy linguine, the new pasta is being touted as beneficial to wellbeing. It is made from a mixture of standard durum wheat flour mixed with wholegrain barley flour, which is rich in a fibre called beta-glucan that aids the growth of new blood vessels.

These blood vessels form "natural bypasses" in the event of a heart attack, according to the researchers in Pisa.

Scientists tested their theory on laboratory mice. Those fed the barley pasta survived an induced cardiac arrest in greater numbers than a control group.

The barley-fed mice also had less heart damage. The researchers, from the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, revealed the results on the website Scientific Reports. They said the new pasta "makes the body more resistant to stress and to coronary artery disease".

"To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to show that a sustained dietary intake of pasta enriched with [beta-glucan] safely increases coronary collaterals ... and reduces mortality," said Professor Vincenzo Lionetti.