Written by Leslie Beck and published in Wednesday’s Globe and Mail (March 12, 2008)

It’s a meal that’s long been a favorite of kids, athletes and connoisseurs of Italian cuisine. Even weight-conscious Canadians, no longer cutting carbohydrates from their diet, are eating it more often. Judging by the proliferation of pasta choices in the grocery store, this high-carb fare has moved from dieter’s downfall to health food.

It’s no longer a simple choice between spaghetti, penne or macaroni. You can buy pasta made from whole wheat, brown rice, spelt, rye and flaxseed. You’ll also find pasta enriched with omega-3 fats, soy and protein. Some brands even have added vegetables such as spinach and tomato.

By itself, pasta is a nutritious food. It contains almost no fat, cholesterol or sodium and is an excellent source of energy-giving carbohydrates. But depending on what type of pasta you buy - and what you top it off with - the nutritional picture can change dramatically.

On the plus side, pasta supplies a sustained energy release thanks to its low glycemic index. Foods with a low GI are broken down slowly in the body and release their carbohydrate (glucose) gradually into the bloodstream. As a result, they can help you feel full longer.

Studies show that diets based on low GI foods are linked with protection from Type 2 diabetes and colon cancer. A University of Toronto study conducted on people with Type 2 diabetes suggests that compared with a high-GI meal, eating pasta can result in better cognitive performance.

Pasta also helps boost your intake of folic acid, a B vitamin that’s been added to enriched pasta, white flour and cornmeal since 1998. (Folate refers to the form of the vitamin found naturally in foods such as spinach, legumes, asparagus and artichokes.) An adequate intake of folic acid reduces a woman’s risk of having a child born with certain brain or spinal cord defects. Consuming enough folic acid before and during pregnancy also helps prevent a deadly childhood cancer called neuroblastoma.

Whether you eat pasta for its slowly released carbs, folic acid or sheer comfort, the following tips will help guide you through the pasta aisle - and keep your calorie, fat and sodium intake in check.

Choose whole grain

Compared with people who eat mainly refined (white) grains, whole-grain eaters have a lower risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, obesity and certain cancers.

Until recently, you had to shop at a health food store if you wanted whole wheat pasta. Today, grocery stores carry it in all shapes and sizes - along with pasta made from other whole grains such as brown rice and flax.

Eden Foods offers 100-per-cent whole grain spelt, rye and kamut pastas. Catelli Healthy Harvest multigrain pasta is made with five whole grain flours: whole wheat semolina, whole rye, whole buckwheat, whole barley and brown rice.

Be fibre smart

Choosing 100-per-cent whole grain pasta over white means you’ll consume more minerals, phytochemicals and fibre - components that are thought to work together to guard against disease.

Per serving, whole grain pasta delivers roughly twice as much fibre as white. One cup (250 millilitres) of cooked whole wheat spaghetti has five grams of fibre, compared with 2.5 grams.

Catelli Smart pasta contains inulin, a white powder extracted from chicory root. Inulin is touted to stimulate the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut and add fibre to foods.

But isolated fibres such as inulin may not have the same benefits of intact fibres in whole grains. When it comes to preventing heart disease, studies find that whole grains from cereals, breads and other grains are protective. The evidence for inulin is sparse.

Consider omega-3s

Dried pasta made with flaxseed serves up alpha-linolenic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid that may help prevent heart attacks. An 85-gram serving (dry) of Catelli Flax Omega-3 pasta provides 0.8 grams of ALA - 75 per cent of the daily recommended intake for women and half a day’s worth for men.

Add your own veggies

Don’t count on spinach pasta to add a serving of vegetables to your meal. Vegetable pastas are made by adding spinach, tomato or beet powders to semolina flour - enough to add colour but not enough to influence fibre or vitamin content.

Portion size counts

The key to weight control is portion size. One food guide serving - half a cup (125 millilitres) - of cooked pasta has 104 calories, half a gram of fat and a single milligram of sodium.

If you’re making a meal out of pasta, keep your portion size to 1½ to two cups (375 to 500 millilitres) of cooked pasta. If you’re trying to lose weight, stick to one cup.

It’s tricky converting the serving size on nutrition labels given as a dry weight to how much cooked pasta ends up on your plate. In general, for small- to medium-shaped (macaroni, penne, fusili) and long-shaped pasta (spaghetti, linguini, fettuccine), a dry weight of 56 grams (about half a cup) yields one cup of cooked pasta. A serving size of 85 grams dry (about ¾ cup) will yield roughly 1½ cups of cooked pasta.

Read labels on fresh pasta

Fresh pasta is convenient because it cooks in half the time as dried. But if it’s stuffed with meat or cheese, it can add excess saturated fat and sodium to your meal.

For instance, a one-cup serving of President’s Choice Lombardia gorgonzola and walnut ravioli delivers six grams of saturated fat - nearly one-third of day’s recommended total - and 510 milligrams of sodium. Read the nutrition labels to compare brands.

Be sauce savvy

Ideally, choose tomato sauce, which is low in fat and a good source of vitamins A and C. Tomato sauce is also an excellent source of lycopene, an

antioxidant linked with protection from prostate cancer. Keep in mind that the add-ins such as cheese, beef and cream add calories and saturated fat.

When buying commercial pasta sauce, look for a product with no more than 65 calories, one gram saturated fat and 400 milligrams of sodium for each half-cup serving.

Leslie Beck, a Toronto-based

dietitian at the Medcan Clinic,

is on CTV’s Canada AM every Wednesday. Visit her website

at lesliebeck.com.