In doing some research earlier today, I found an interesting, new low-carb pasta product that does not include soy protein. Dreamfields Pasta (www.dreamfields.com) makes a pasta product that only has 5g of Net Carbs per serving. As a frame of reference, “regular” pasta contains 32-40g per 2-ounce serving.
A 52-gram (2-ounce) serving of Dreamfields Pasta includes 42 grams of Total Carbohydrates, of which 37 are rendered non-digestible by a “fiber blend” process. There is, of course, a patent pending. The process leaves only 5 digestible carbs per serving,
Quoting from an article written by David Mendosa, “The technology behind Dreamfields Pasta results in most of the carbohydrate grams becoming ‘protected’ or non-digestible, Dr. Anfinsen tells me. It ‘involves molecular interactions that help block the enzyme from attacking the carbohydrate starch granule. It is not encapsulated. We have basically created a situation where there is a matrix more or less that has a tendency to attract the enzyme to the matrix and not the carbohydrate.’”
The company has been less than forthcoming about the technology, but it will say that it creates its “protected carbohydrates” without chemical modification and by utilizing combinations of standard food ingredients to “protect” digestible carbohydrates from being broken down by digestive enzymes.
The product reportedly does not cause stomach upset, and it has a glycemic index of about 12.
The Nutrition Facts report a serving of pasta is 190 calories, when in reality it is less. When asked why, Dr. Anfinsen of Dreamfields said, "It actually has less. This is a problem with labeling this type of product. The FDA does not have a procedure that we can follow. When you put something in your mouth that is what you report. If something happens in your body, then it changes.
“For example, if you were to use all that carbohydrate you would have to count the calories per gram of the carbohydrate that was taken into your mouth. But if you bypass those carbs into the colon, where they are fermented, a large amount of the energy goes into the biomass of the bacteria which become feces and are passed on, so the body doesn?t use that energy, and it also puts it into certain forms that aren?t used as energy by the body in the fermentation process in the colon.”
Dr. Anfinsen said that they haven’t completed their fermentation energy studies, but that non-digestible carbohydrates have fewer carbohydrate per gram than the 4 calories per gram that carbohydrates typically have.
Dreamfields began producing the pasta in January. It is just starting to hit the shelves in major supermarkets, including Wal-Mart Super Centers, Kroger and Safeway
