Food and Nutrition Facts for the Press

Here's the skinny on one of America's favorite foods.

• Pasta is a good source of folic acid, a key nutrient in a woman's childbearing years. Folic acid helps to prevent some birth defects (i.e. neural tube) that occur in the early stages of pregnancy.
• In addition to folic acid, a typical two-ounce serving of non-egg dry pasta contains valuable levels of iron, riboflavin, thiamine, and niacin. The same two-ounce serving contains only one gram of fat, no sodium or cholesterol, and 211 calories.
  
• Some pasta may contains natural flavorings to produce colored pasta. More common ones include tomato and spinach powder for red and green pasta.
  
• High-quality durum wheat is the main ingredient in U.S.-produced pasta. It is from durum wheat, the hardest wheat known to man, that pasta receives its yellow amber color, pleasant nutty flavor and the ability to retain both shape and firmness when cooked.
  
• "Durum semolina" appears on most pasta labels. Semolina is the coarsely ground endosperm of durum wheat that's golden in color and very coarse and granular in texture. When mixed with water, a variety of macaroni products are produced. Some pasta labels may also refer to "durum flour" which is a finer granulation of durum produced in the milling process and is primarily used in noodle products.
  
• The term "enriched" on a pasta label refers to the additional nutrients, considered essential to a balanced diet, which have been added. These include several components of the vitamin B complex: thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, and folic acid.
  
• Pasta is a low-fat, high-carbohydrate food. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend eating 6-11 daily servings of grain-based products that are high in complex carbohydrates -- foods like pasta, breads and cereals - as the foundation of a healthy diet. About 80 percent of the calories in pasta are in the form of complex carbohydrates. ( "Carbohydrate loading" is still practiced by exercise enthusiasts who need to increase and store muscle glycogen for prolonged, exhaustive exercise, like long-distance running.
  
• There are Standards of Identity for various pasta products developed by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) as follows:
• Macaroni products: are the class of food (spaghetti and vermicelli) each of which is prepared by drying formed units of dough made from semolina, durum flour, farina, flour, or any combination of two or more of these, with water and with or without one or more of the optional ingredients specified.
• Noodle Products: are the class of food each of which is prepared by drying formed units of dough made with semolina, durum flour, farina, flour, or any combination of two or more of these with liquid eggs, frozen eggs, dried eggs, egg yolks, frozen yolks, dried yolks, or any combination of two or more of these, with or without water and with or without one or more of the optional ingredients specified. By law, egg noodle products must contain 5.5 percent egg solids by weight.
• Lycopene, a naturally abundant antioxidant found in tomatoes is another benefit to eating pasta topped with the traditional sauce. Recent research suggests that lycopene helps inhibit certain cancers, including prostate and cervical cancer.
  
• Pasta contributes six of the eight essential amino acids to the diet; however, when combined with dairy, meat, or other complementary protein foods, the protein available is a complete protein containing all the essential amino acids, an important food for vegetarians.

Nutrient Profile of Selected Pasta Products

57 Gram Edible Portion (2 ounces dry)
Download a PDF of this chart. PDF(53KB)

Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture Handbook 8-20,
Revised Edition Published October 1989