The Catholic leader, 78, has put on weight in recent months which doctors have attributed to too much pasta and not enough exercise.
Doctors told Italy's national news agency Ansa that the pontiff needed a more 'disciplined' regime to combat the stress he faces leading over a billion Catholics.
It has been reported he has been told to eat pasta no more than twice each week. The Holy Father does not take holidays and is often travelling the world, most recently he took a trip to the mafia heartland in Southern Italy, Calabria.
