There's a common thought that eating pasta, or too much of it, can lead to weight gain.  It's thought that, like any carb really, if you over-indulge it will result in gaining a few extra pounds. But new research might just have proven those theories wrong. According to the Nutrition and Diabetes Journal, there might not be any relation between weight gain and pasta. Italian researchers surveyed over 23,000 people in Italy and found those who had a higher intake of pasta didn't necessarily have a raised BMI (body mass index) and waist to hip ratio. In fact, they had 'lower waist circumference and better waist-hip ratio and a lower prevalence of overweight and obesity.' via GIPHY The 23,000 people surveyed came from two Italian cities and the researchers noted that there is a negative view of pasta saying:

"Our findings show a negative association of pasta consumption with general and central obesity in two methodologically and geographically different, large Mediterranean populations."

They continued:

"In the last decades in Italy, despite the strong effort to promote the Mediterranean diet, a progressive change occurred in eating habits. Pasta consumption has been decreased, as a concept of low carbohydrate and high protein diet against obesity emerged. "However, the debate of hypo-caloric high protein diets versus low-fat and standard carbohydrate diets in the management of body weight and the health implications (that is, kidney function, bone health) is still open."

They concluded that pasta has the opposite effect:

"On the contrary, adherence to the Mediterranean diet according to epidemiological and clinical evidence has a protective role on overweight and obesity, in parallel with important health benefits against chronic diseases and related comorbidities, establishing nutrition guidelines as an outcome of health policies."

They also added that their findings were similar to that of studies conducted in America and Greece which also saw no connection between pasta consumption and weight gain.

"Our results are in agreement with a relatively recent study examining food and nutrient intakes in association with BMI in 1,794 US middle-aged adults, showing that pasta intake among other food groups is negatively associated with BMI. Moreover, evidence from Greek islands supports a favorable role of carbohydrate intake on central and general obesity."