Hi there,

Thanks for your email.

This is an interesting area, and one that is growing a large following.

Zero Noodles are made from a substance called Konjac which is a type of soluble fibre. Because it is made of fibre, it will have a small calorie level (fibre has about 2 calories per gram), so the claims that it is calorie free might be a little misleading. That said, the calorie level will be minimal, and certainly less than carbohydrate based noodles.

There is no doubt that replacing 'normal' noodles with this type of noodle would reduce your calorie intake as you are cutting back on the calories from the carbohydrates you'd find in 'normal' noodles. However, there is a real lack of long term evidence to show any health benefits, or more importantly, to not show any damage to health.

There are a few studies shown on the Zero Noodles website, but the most recent of these is from 2001 so the claim that the product has a positive effect on things like cholesterol and diabetes, aren't really backed up with scientific evidence. The few studies which have shown a positive effect, have included Konjac products every day for several weeks so not really a real life situation. If you compare to something like wholegrain, there are hundreds of studies (with hundreds of thousands of participants), showing the benefits on heart health, cholesterol, diabetes etc which makes me more confident to say that the link between wholegrain and heart health it is likely to be true. If there are only a handful of studies, from over 10 years ago, I wouldn't be so sure about Zero Noodles.

This product is made from fibre so yes, it would have a benefit of helping you to feel fuller for longer, and therefore may help to aid weight loss, however again there isn't any evidence to back this up.

In terms of whether these products are safe? There is no reason why they wouldn't be as they are just a fibre rich alternative to carbohydrate products. What we don't know in any detail is whether there are any side effects of eating such products. Whether they are really the 'wonder' food that they claim is still up for debate, but they could be a different lower calorie alternative for someone looking to lose weight.

I hope this helps.

Janet

Nutritionist