Cooking parameters affect the sodium content of prepared pasta

Abstract

The quantitative effect of different preparation variables on the sodium content of cooked dry pasta was evaluated. Semolina spaghetti (<5 mg sodium/100 g) was cooked by a typical method (454 g, 5.68 L water, 36 g salt, al dente, no rinsing) and after systematic variation of amount of salt, water:pasta ratio, cooking volume and time, rinsing, pasta shape, whole grain. Sodium was assayed by ICP-MS, including rigorous quality control. Pasta cooked without salt had <5 mg sodium/140 g serving, and 247-490 mg/serving when cooked in salted water by the different variations. Rinsing reduced sodium by 34%. There was a linear relationship between salt concentration in cooking water and sodium in cooked pasta; doubling the concentration increased sodium by 243 mg/serving (>10% of 2300 mg/day), relative to the reference method. No other variables affected sodium. Results allow more accurate estimation of sodium intake from cooked pasta, since food composition tables that do not reflect variations in cooking parameters.

Pasta as a Source of Minerals in the Diets of Poles; Effect of Culinary Processing of Pasta on the Content of Minerals

“…The differences were particularly high for Na, the content of which decreased by up to 31% for pasta cooked in salted water. Other authors obtained similar results, finding that rinsing of the cooked pasta with running water reduces the content of Na by about 30% [ 23 , 24 ]. According to Ranhotra et al [ 22 ], the retention of Na while cooking pasta in unsalted distilled water can be from 7% up to 89%, for other minerals (K, Ca, Mg)—from 25% to 114%, and for microelements (Zn, Cu, Fe, Mn)—from 62% to 119%.…”

“…Due to increasing the content of Na in water by adding salt, Na from the solution penetrates into the product, thereby reducing the content of other minerals, while cooking in unsalted water causes Na to penetrate from the product into the water. The degree of penetration of minerals from pasta into water and the other way round during cooking depends on the content of Na in the water [ 24 ]. The studies by Albrecht et al [ 23 ] showed that cooking pasta in salted water (from 4.4 to ca.…”

“…According to Cubadda et al [ 31 ], cooked Italian pasta contained Fe > Zn > Mn > Cu. Bianchi et al [ 24 ] added different amounts of salt to water used for cooking pasta: 0 g, 3.17 g or 6.34 g of salt per litre, which led to a linear increase in the content of Na in the pasta. In this study, using water without salt reduced the content of Na in cooked pasta by 48%, in comparison to the content in pasta cooked in water with 3.17 g of salt and by 99% in comparison to the content in pasta cooked in water with 6.34 g of salt.…”

“…Based on the mean content of Na, K, Ca, Mg, Zn, Cu, Fe, and Mn in cooked pasta, the content of minerals was calculated per 1 serving of pasta, assuming that the serving is 140 g for adults [ 24 ], 50 g for children aged 1–3 [ 25 ], 60 g for children aged 4–6 [ 26 ], 100 g for children aged 7–12 [ 27 ], 125 g for children aged 13–15 [ 28 ], and 135 g for adolescents aged 16–18 [ 28 ]. The mean share of pasta in the reference daily intake was calculated from the formula: where: …”

“… Intake of Zn, Cu, Fe, and Mn with analysed pasta per portion, cooked, mg. Portion size: ( a ) Adults 140 g [ 24 ], ( b ) children aged 1–3 years 50 g [ 25 ], ( c ) children aged 4–6 years 60 g [ 26 ], ( d ) children aged 7–12 years 100 g [ 27 ], ( e ) children aged 13–15 years 125 g [ 28 ], ( f ) children aged 16–18 years 135 g [ 28 ]; NaCl + NR—cooked with salt and not rinsed; NaCl + R—cooked with salt and rinsed; NR—cooked without salt and not rinsed; R—cooked without salt and rinsed; a,b,c,d —values with different superscripts differ at p < 0.05 by Duncan’s test. …”