> Pasta and other carbohydrate-rich foods are nowhere near as bad as sugar for children.

Sugar is as bad as it is because it's almost instantly absorbed. Plenty of carbohydrates are the same.

Fiber is what separates healthy carbs from unhealthy carbs, heck, even sugars.

An apple is healthy even though it's loaded with sugar because it's also loaded with fiber.

Apple juice is unhealthy because it's basically just the sugar.

Were I to guess, what's changed in italy is what's changed in the US. Flour has become highly refined, removing all the fiber that used to be present. This gives flour nice properties in terms of baking and pasta making, but it also removes a vital part of pasta.

The real thing in relative moderation is better for you than the for profit chemicals and food additives/substitutes/extenders, cane sugar, honey are both better for you than high fructose corn syrup, and the same applies for all those flower/grain extenders and additives. Put in food mainly for profit.

Pasta is actually a relatively low GI food, due to long starch chains. Like fiber, some of the (resistant) starch acts as food for the microbiome of the gut. There’s a theory that eating lots of resistant starch has similar benefits to high-fiber diets.

> removing all the fiber

Yes this.

Also reduced vegetable intake. In many cases the fiber from vegetables can offset some refined carbs intake.

Also the fact that in one of the examples the individual simply ate no vegetables.