Carb lovers with gluten allergies and intolerances may be able curb their cravings with a bowl of gluten-free spaghetti made with green bananas.
Food researchers from the University of Brazil have created a pasta made with flour milled from green bananas which, in their taste test, proved to be more popular and palatable than whole wheat pasta, they say in the recently published study from the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
In addition to being a gluten-free product, researchers say their green banana flour pasta is cheaper to produce, lower in fat and higher in protein compared to the whole wheat pasta in their study.
Currently, the most common gluten-free pastas are made with brown rice, corn, quinoa, potatoes and soybeans.
More importantly, the pasta made with green bananas — a sub-product of little commercial value — was also the more acceptable of the two products in a taste test that included 50 participants without celiac disease, and 25 people with celiac disease.
Both groups of testers preferred the green banana pasta in areas like aroma, flavor, texture and overall quality.
The modified pasta could also help control glycemic indices, cholesterol, and intestinal regularity, researchers claim, due to the high level of resistant starch.
Meanwhile, the gluten-free trend shows no sign of waning, with mainstream commercial food makers and retailers adding gluten-free products to their portfolios.
Domino’s Pizza, the largest pizza delivery chain in the world, also announced the launch of a new gluten-free crust in the US last month.