Proponents of konjac noodles say they can help you lose weight as they contain few calories and lots of fibre to keep you feeling full for longer. — dpa
Who knew there was also a diet alternative to pasta?
Low in carbs and calories, shirataki noodles are often talked up as a “miracle” food for people seeking to lose weight.
While health experts say this ingredient will give you a full-stomach feeling, they also say it offers your body very little nutrition.
The root of the konjac plant is dried and processed into flour, which is then turned into white translucent noodles.
The special feature that makes the noodles so low in calories is that the konjac root consists largely of the fibre glucomannan.
The body cannot utilise it, so it does not provide any energy.
As a result, 100g of cooked shirataki noodles contains just 10 calories.
By comparison, the same amount of cooked spaghetti provides the body with around 160 calories.
In addition to their low calorie content, they have properties that can help you lose weight.
This is because the dietary fibre glucomannan can absorb up to 50 times its own mass in water.
As a result, the noodles continue to swell in the stomach after eating.
This keeps you feeling fuller for longer.
And if you don’t feel hungry as quickly, you may eat less overall.
However: “Eating konjac noodles is not enough to lose weight permanently,” says nutrition expert Antje Degner from a consumer advice centre in Germany.
“The key to losing weight is your overall diet, not just a single ingredient.”
So if you want to lose weight, there is no way around a change in diet: lots of vegetables, legumes and fruit, wholemeal products, low-fat fish and calorie-free drinks such as water and unsweetened teas.
While konjac-based noodles contain hardly any calories, they also have hardly any nutrients either.
Health experts say they are therefore not particularly beneficial in terms of nutrition.
And they are not particularly great for your wallet either, as they are significantly more expensive than classic pasta.
Some people may also lose their appetite when opening the packaging, as the noodles have a slight fishy odour.
But this smell disappears when they are rinsed and cooked. – dpa
