- Cold pasta contains resistant starch that slows blood sugar spikes.
- Balanced meals matter more than pasta temperature alone.
- Resistant starch may support gut health and insulin sensitivity.
While we all know scrolling on social media isn’t exactly the best habit, I have to admit that I love flipping through celebrity posts on Instagram. After all, some of my favorite celebrities are also chefs. I love their social media content because they often share recipes and cooking tips, which means I learn a lot and get to soak up the inside knowledge they post on their accounts.
Sometimes, though, their information comes without enough explanation, which was exactly the case when I encountered a post from Giada De Laurentiis during a recent fridge tour on her Instagram account. Her gorgeous fridge was full of delicious, nutritious items, but when she mentioned cold, cooked pasta was “better for your blood sugar,” I knew that someone needed to jump in and explain.
Though Giada never quite explains what she means, I used my dietitian deduction powers to gather that she was speaking to the resistant starch properties of cold versus hot pasta. If you’re new to this term, resistant starch refers to a type of carbohydrate that resists digestion in the small intestine. Resistant starch is formed when food like Giada’s pasta, for example, is cooked, cooled and then consumed, but it’s also naturally present in some foods like unripe bananas, beans and potatoes.
Vandana Sheth, RDN, CDCES, FAND, a plant-based diabetes expert, explains that consuming resistant starch, like in cold pasta, “leads to a slower rise in blood sugar compared to the same pasta when eaten hot, right after it’s prepared.”
Research suggests including resistant starch in the diet is beneficial, especially for people with diabetes who need to closely monitor and manage their blood sugar.
“The benefit,” says Sheth, “is fewer post-meal glucose spikes and a more steady glucose response.” While this can be a helpful tool in managing diabetes, close monitoring for individual response is necessary, she says. For those without diabetes, Sheth points to the benefits resistant starch has on gut health (nurturing the microbiome and reducing inflammation, for example) and insulin sensitivity (enhancing metabolism).
That said, the type of resistant starch matters. Much of the research on metabolic and gut-health benefits has focused on resistant starch 1 (RS1) and resistant starch 2 (RS2), which occur naturally in foods like whole grains, legumes and unripe (green) bananas. Cooked and cooled pasta, on the other hand, contains resistant starch 3 (RS3), which forms during cooling through a process called retrogradation. Emerging research suggests RS3 may help blunt post-meal blood sugar spikes, but its broader long-term health effects are still being explored.
So should you follow Giada’s lead by cooking then fully cooling your pasta before enjoying it? Not necessarily, says Sheth. “Pasta temperature matters less than the overall plate,” Sheth explains. “Cold pasta paired with vegetables, olive oil and protein will impact blood sugar very differently than pasta on its own. Resistant starch works best as part of a balanced meal.”
Keeping that in mind, we might just have to prep some cold pasta salad for lunch this week. We just have to decide between something simple and classic, like our High-Protein Pasta Salad, or maybe something fun and fresh, like our Tortellini Salad. And if you want to go all-out on Giada inspiration, you could opt for something like her Fregola Salad with Olive Relish and Chickpeas. Whatever you choose, you’ll be looking out for your blood sugar and enjoying something truly tasty.
