FYI -
http://www.ediets.com/news/article....id=6&code=75960
The Perfect Pasta... Or A Low-Carb Lie?
By Becky Billingsley
Special for eDiets
August 14, 2004
Is it a field of pasta dreams or an over-liberal use of terminology?
In recent months, one of the most hotly debated topics in low-carb chat rooms and on message boards is the new Dreamfields pasta, released this year by the DNA Dreamfields Company. Its makers claim that although one two-ounce serving of their pasta contains 42 grams of carbohydrate -- just like "regular" pasta -- and is made primarily of enriched semolina -- just like regular pasta -- they are able to control 37 grams so that only 5 grams carbohydrate are digested.
Even the term that Dreamfields coined for counting their carbs, "net digestible carbs," is new.
Dreamfields inventor Jon Anfinsen says he inserts the word digestible into the final carb calculation because he evaluates carb impact by its digestibility, which is tested by measuring blood glucose levels.
"Our product is unique from the standpoint that the product changes in digestibility as it goes through the system," he said in a recent phone interview. "The way our body processes foods is what determines [the final carb count]. The body processes it, then we measure it based on blood glucose. If [food] is not digested in the small intestine, it passes to the colon, ferments like fiber, then you get all the benefits of fiber."
Which means that this pasta, with its matrix fiber shield, should prevent blood glucose spikes, which would be wonderful news for diabetics.
This measure of blood glucose levels comes from in vivo (live people) studies. A quality control test, Anfinsen said, involved some 45 to 50 people who were screened as healthy people without any metabolic disorders. Those test subjects underwent a total of 300 to 400 test runs.
A separate study was conducted with 12 people, who were chosen randomly. They were observed in 32 tests. That test was done at AMK Research, Inc., and one of the researchers there, John Abernethy, M.D., is on the Dreamfields advisory board. Dreamfields released the results of that study, which shows that after two hours, the test subjects’ blood glucose indicated absorption of 5 grams of carbohydrate.
"I had a discussion with a number of colleagues about this, and we can’t figure out how it could work," said Dr. David A. Levitsky, a professor of nutrition science and psychology at Cornell University.
Many Dreamfields advocates think it tastes no different from regular pasta, and the company makes much of that. Other reduced-carbohydrate pastas use dilution to decrease the carb count, such as by adding soy fillers. Those pastas can feel gummy, especially if they aren’t allowed enough cooking time. Dreamfields cooks in the same amount of time as regular pasta -- about 8 to 10 minutes. That makes Dr. Levitsky skeptical.
"I agree if you coat the carbohydrate granules, it could block absorption," Levitsky said, "[but] it’s not going to act like a carbohydrate anymore. The property of starch, the chewy consistency, should be blocked. It should block its interaction with enzymes in the [gastro intestinal] tract, and it should take longer to cook. It should be quite different indeed if the starch granules are blocked.
"If what they’re doing is adding soluble fiber, it would have a beneficial effect for diabetics," he said. "It will slow down the rate at which the stomach dumps its contents and will decrease the rate of absorption. In terms of diabetics, yeah, that would probably be more beneficial than eating ordinary pasta.
"That’s what I’m very skeptical of. [The Dreamfields] fiber blend is all good soluble gums, which are known to decrease the rate of absorption. But it only affects the rate, not how much is absorbed. That’s what my colleagues and I highly doubt, but that’s without seeing the [testing] data."
The professor isn’t the only skeptic. Pat Vasconcellos, R.D., a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association, said while the concept is interesting, she would like to see more tests performed.
"Let’s have an independent testing," she said, "and have a website to go into, so we can go in and do our own assessing. And let’s test with diabetics and see how they do. I’m looking at this more medically, at those people sensitive to carbs."
Elaine Payne is president of Low-Carb Connoisseur, an online low-carb specialty store at
www.low-carb.com. She refuses to sell Dreamfields.
"We have a message board on our site, and we found that diabetics had to test beyond their normal time period. There was a delayed spike going four to five hours… [Dreamfields] is obviously different, but you have to suspend your belief to think it’s down to five grams carbohydrate."
The product testing performed by AMK Research monitored blood glucose up to two hours after people ate the pasta. David Mendosa, a diabetic who maintains a website at
www.medosa.com, performed glucose tests on himself after eating Dreamfields. His results, which show no appreciable blood glucose spikes, are often referred to on low-carb message boards as proof that the product does what it promises. But Mendosa’s data is only for one and two hours after eating.
Tonya Root is a diabetic and a journalist who lives in Myrtle Beach, SC. She is sensitive to glucose spikes after eating pasta, and she tried Dreamfields twice.
The first time she ate a two-ounce serving, plain. She started with a blood glucose level of 109 (80 to 120 is normal for people without diabetes). After one hour her blood glucose was 127, and after two hours it was 139.
"But four hours later," Root wrote in an email, "when my tummy started to rumble and I was searching for a snack, my blood sugar reading was 189."
Root said that was unusual, because normally that long after she eats her blood sugar is near normal again.
The second time she had a bit more than a suggested serving size, topped with Ragu light tomato and basil sauce, and one piece of bread. Before the meal her blood sugar was 112, after two hours it was 197 and after four hours it was 227.
"That may sound high, but it’s actually better than if I had regular pasta because then it would be at or very close to 300 and I would feel very sluggish. I never got that sluggish feeling I normally get when I’ve had too many carbs at once, so that was a good thing."
So, in anecdotal reporting, some people are experiencing delayed blood glucose elevations, which could be good news for diabetics. But skeptics are still undecided about the validity of the claim of a serving having 37 grams of controlled carbs, especially for people who are more concerned about reducing carb intake rather than monitoring blood sugar levels.
Are the carbs controlled so long they’re expelled from the body before they can be digested, or does the delayed blood sugar influence mask a slow carbohydrate absorption?
Only more testing will show that definitively.
"It raises a lot of questions," said Joy Short, Director of the Didactic Program in Dietetics in the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Saint Louis University.
Short is concerned that, because the Food and Drug Administration has not yet issued definitions or guidelines for low-carbohydrate food labeling, Dreamfield’s "net digestible carbs" could be a marketing gimmick.
She points out that a serving of Dreamfields pasta has 190 calories, which is comparable to regular pasta. She likens this and other unsubstantiated low-carb claims to the low-fat craze of a decade ago that had some dieters convinced they could over-indulge in low-fat foods and disregard calorie intake.
"Until we come up with some definitions for these terms, it’s really just buyer beware," she said. "It sounds too good to be true, and it probably is."
We keep you informed of the best choices and best foods, as well as the latest trends in diet and nutrition, and whether or not they're worth your while.
Becky Billingsley is the editor of Coastal Carolina Dining and CEO of The Food Syndicate. Contact her at becky~thefoodsyndicate.com.
reheating Dreamfields Pasta
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