Can you eat pasta on a low FODMAP diet?
Pasta is a much-loved food - easy, versatile, a crowd pleaser, and of course delicious! You might be wondering if you can have pasta because it contains wheat. Even though pasta contains wheat which has the FODMAP called fructans in it, you can still have small amounts as the diet is about reducing the FODMAP load so that symptoms don’t occur. The safe level is 101g cooked weight, which was tested by Monash.
There are lots of low FODMAP pastas on the market now, but don’t be fooled into thinking that gluten-free pasta is low FODMAP. It isn’t the gluten that triggers the IBS symtpoms, it is the fructans (a type of FODMAP) in the wheat. Gluten is a type of protein, whereas fructans is a type of carbohydrate. Therefore, just because it is gluten-free doesn’t mean it will be low FODMAP. Make sure you always check the label for high FODMAP ingredients that can be used in the manufacturing of pasta such as:
lupin
soy flour
chickpea/besan/gram flour
lentil flour
(please note this is not an exhaustive list of high FODMAP ingredients - refer to the Monash Low FODMAP app)
Why are gluten-free products including pastas often recommended on the low FODMAP diet?
The low FODMAP diet is not a gluten free diet so it can be difficult to understand why gluten free products are recommended. Gluten is commonly found in wheat, rye, and barley which also contain high level of fructans. Gluten free products are often recommended on the low FODMAP diet as they don’t contain wheat, rye and barley. It can also be an easy way of finding a low FODMAP product on the supermarket shelf.
This can all be very confusing, but the take home message is:
“Gluten is a protein and does not trigger IBS symptoms so therefore
you DO NOT need to be on a gluten free diet”
Low FODMAP pasta products
Small amounts of regular wheat-based pasta is OK on the low FODMAP diet as long as it is in the amount of 101g (cooked) or less. If this doesn’t appeal to you, then you could choose from the following options:
