Eating pasta is less fattening if it is cooled down and reheated before being served, a study has revealed.
The finding astonished the scientists doing the experiment and suggests a simple way to make everyday meals healthier.
It was made during work for Trust Me, I'm a Doctor, a BBC television programme. In the first test of its kind, researchers fed freshly cooked pasta to one group of volunteers and reheated pasta to another group, taking blood samples every 15 minutes for two hours to compare the effects.
They found that after eating reheated pasta, the volunteers' blood sugar level increased by half the usual amount, reducing the chances of putting on weight or developing diabetes. The food acted more like bananas, beans or raw oats when absorbed in the gut, they said.
Dr Chris van Tulleken, who conducted the experiment, said he was blown away by the results. "This was a brand new discovery and it's something that could simply and easily improve health," he said.
