Is Spaghetti bad for cholesterol?

QUESTION: I have high cholesterol problems, and some of my friends have told me not to eat spaghetti as it is bad for cholesterol? Is this true?


ANSWER: Hi,

Uncooked spaghetti is not containing any type of fat acids or cholesterol. If this meal leads to an elevation of the cholesterol level in your organism, you have to rethink about the way of cooking as there is a great difference in the amount of cholesterol and fat acids in spaghetti with meat and made with tomato sauce.

Spaghetti made with meat, especially when meat is in excessive amount of course, is leading to the production of increased amount of “bad” cholesterol.

The elevation in the cholesterol level is observed in people who are eating spaghetti made with a lot of oil and especially the fried ones. Meanwhile, when tomato juice is used instead of meat, there is another story.

Please find below a simple recipe to make low cholesterol and low fat spaghetti. They are the most preferred in our Mediterranean region:)

First of all, boil the spaghetti until your tooth likes them. After that, you have to prepare a sauce composed of 1 tbsp. canola oil, then add 1 garlic button and 4 tbsp. of sugar.

After mixing them, add 3 cups of tomato juice and 1 tbs. of salt and one bay leaf. If you cannot resist the meat balls, you can also add some small amount, but try not to fry them.

This is the meat with the lowest amount of fat acids and cholesterol in it. My advice is to be careful with the spice. You don’t have to put a lot of salt or other spices in excessive amount because this leads to a slight elevation of the cholesterol and the blood pressure of course.

Buon appetite!

Dr.Alba