Covid has led Italians to pay more attention to food, its properties and its benefits for the body. It's not a matter of dietary opportunity but something much more important that concerns our health. The ministry of health recommends within the framework of the measures and behaviors to be adopted to counter the pandemic emergency of "have proper nutrition" paying "attention to the quality and quantity of the foods we eat every day".
On the government website it is underlined in particular that a correct diet contributes to: "maintaining health, respecting the food tradition of our country, avoiding nutritional deficiencies, providing adequate reserves of energy and nutrients for the maintenance of the body's functions, avoiding of weight, prevent chronic diseases also favored by excess weight”.
In essence, it has come back to the fore on the Italian table the Mediterranean diet, bears witness to it the average increase in 2020 of 11% in consumption of its iconic products, such as extra virgin olive oil, fruit and vegetables up to pasta. An important result in the tenth anniversary of the inclusion of the Mediterranean diet in the list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO.
The Covid emergency has also marked a patriotic turning point in the purchasing choices of Italians to ensure greater safety and support the environment, the economy and national work. 82% of Italians with the crisis generated by the pandemic - observes a note from Coldiretti - want bring Made in Italy products to the table.
And the Made in Italy pasta is 100% guaranteed from Italian wheat, according to an analysis by Coldiretti on Ismea data relating to 2020, in full pandemic emergency did record a 29% jump in value in the cart equal to almost three times the normal pasta.
An international study found that 1 in 4 people increased their consumption during the months of lockdown. Spaghetti, macaroni, fettuccine, rigatoni and fusilli are back to being the "dish of the heart" not only in Italy but also abroad.
This is attested by a research commissioned by Unione Italiana Food and AgenziaIce to Doxa "The consumption of pasta during the lockdown", presented on the occasion of World Pasta Day, which involved a sample of over 5 thousand people in Italy, Germany, France, Great Britain and USA.
Let's start from Italy: 9 out of 10 Italians (88%) eat pasta regularly, 1 out of 3 (36%) brings it to the table every day. But the greatest attention has been reserved in this period
Ma our pasta is also appreciated abroad: according to the elaborations of Unione Italiana Food on Istat data in the first six months of 2020, the increase in exports was +25%.Growths of over 40% were recorded in Canada, Australia, Romania and the USA. Plus 30% instead to the UK, the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia. An even larger increase was recorded in Hong-Kong, Ukraine and Ireland. Here the growth is over 60%. Finally, other markets such as France, China and South Korea register growth of 20%
Bread and pasta should never be missing from tables, if consumed in the right quantities, they are in fact essential to keep the body in good health and physical shape. Manuela Pastore, dietitian of Humanitas. explains in the institute's magazine that i carbohydrates “provide us with the energy necessary for the body to function properly and carrying out normal daily activities. They perform important biological functions: first of all, in the form of glycogen in the liver and muscles, they constitute an energy reserve for rapid use at night or between meals”.
And further on he observes that "A balanced diet must be made up of 55-60% of daily calories from carbohydrates of which no more than 10% from monosaccharides and disaccharides, 25-30% of the daily caloric intake from lipids, and about 1 g/kg of body weight of protein.
Monosaccharides are rapidly absorbed by the body and provide energy that is immediately available, but which is quickly depleted: for this reason they are ideal when you need a little boost, but their consumption must be limited. It is the polysaccharides that constitute the real fuel of our body, since they are absorbed more slowly and provide energy gradually”.
The Humanitas dietician then warns against serious consequences of the elimination of carbohydrates from the diet: “The result – is an unbalanced diet in favor of fats. When carbohydrates in the diet are excessively reduced, the body must manufacture its own glucose, which is essential for its functions, using proteins and fats as substrates.
The formation of sugars from the amino acids of proteins leads, if continued, to a reduction in lean body mass (mostly muscle) which is a fundamental component of the organism, as well as a loss of minerals; while the release of an excessive and forced quantity of fatty acids causes, in the long run, a pathological condition called acidosis, which consists of an imbalance dangerous to health. Basically, a lack of dietary carbohydrates leads the body to obtain them using other substances that are found from deposits, and not always from fat deposits, leading to imbalances that are harmful to the body”.
