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EventsThe Dreamfields pasta fraud
Dreamfields pasta is promoted as a low carb product. But it’s made from durum wheat and it tastes great. Actually, it looks, feels and tastes just like… regular pasta.
Now, regular pasta is anything but low carb. It’s mostly starch, which turns into glucose in the gut and is absorbed as blood sugar. Exactly what low carbers try to avoid. Dreamfields pasta has 41 grams of carbs per serving. How can that be low carb?
Well, Dreamfields claim that their “patent-pending” (since 2004) recipe and manufacturing process protects the carb from being digested.
It sounds fantastic. But is it true? I decided to find out and the results were shocking.
A beautiful tale
Can you be a low carber and eat all the pasta you want? Can you have your (low carb) cake and eat it too?
It sounds too good to be true, and two questions pop up:
- If their “patent-pending” manufacturing really made the starch indigestible, would that not affect the taste? (It’s great).
- If the starch really became indigestible, should it not end up being digested by bacteria in the large intestine, causing massive flatulence? (It does not).
Now it’s time for answers.
The package
Here’s my package of Dreamfields pasta, bought in a “low carb” store.
Let’s take a closer look.
Big promises
Basically the idea is that the carbs will pass straight through your body:
Side
There you have it: 36 grams of non-fiber carbs per 56 gram serving. It adds up to about 80 percent energy from carbs. That’s about as high carb a food as you could find.
Of course – most of it is supposedly indigestible.
I tested the pasta myself, eating it and testing my blood sugar 21 times. We’ll get to the test shortly.
A good idea?
It may sound too good to be true. But even if it was true, consider if it really is a good idea for the future.
Should the food industry manufacture food that our bodies can’t absorb? Do we really need to chew food that doesn’t make us satiated, food that gives us no energy, food that isn’t real food?
Is it environmentally sound to grow wheat and then chemically modify it so that it loses its nutritional value, manufacture pasta, transport it, sell it, cook it and then sit down to eat it, all of that to create some extra poop?
(Not to mention all the gas it would result in)
That’s an interesting philosophical question. But let’s leave it and find out if Dreamfields pasta works.
Real low carb food
First some real low carb food to get some perspective. Here is a common meal in my home:
A steak, Béarnaise sauce and a pile of vegetables fried in butter. Possibly a glass of red wine. The result is long-lasting satiety and well-being.
A meal like this contains a few grams of carbs – perhaps five.
The result on my blood sugar? Hardly any at all. It usually stays at fasting levels, between 86 and 94. If you don’t eat anything that turns to sugar your blood sugar stays the same. Very logical.
The test
Now let’s test the Dreamfields pasta:
Here is one serving according to Dreamfields, 56 grams. It’s not a lot of food for someone who is 6’7” (me).
I had two servings:
These 112 grams of pasta contains 72 grams of starch and sugars according to the Nutrition Facts. But according to Dreamfields only 10 grams are absorbed.
After cooking
After boiling (according to instructions, exactly 9 minutes) it turned into a decent portion. About the amount I used to eat when I ate pasta.
I had the pasta without any other food, with a glass of water. It tasted fine, about the way pasta usually tastes.
The result
It didn’t start out too bad. My blood sugar did quickly rise to 108, but then it looked as if it was stabilizing. I was impressed, it didn’t look too bad.
But that was just the beginning. Then came a mountain of blood sugar. After two and a half hours the blood sugar was still as high as 131!
It turned into a long evening. I tested my blood sugar every 20 minutes and hoped that it would go down so I could have a real dinner. Weirdly enough I felt hungry at the same time as my blood sugar was high. Perhaps some other nutrient was missing in my blood giving me feelings of hunger. Protein? Fat?
I had no other food until the experiment was completed. After seven and a half hours (!) I gave up, even though the blood sugar was still a bit higher than normal. I ate some real food and went to bed.
Here are five different blood sugar curves to compare.
- The green ones are big low carb dinners
- The blue ones are “exceptions” with more carbs
- The red is the fake low carb pasta
Verdict: Not low carb
The Dreamfields pasta contain slow carbs. Perhaps it’s OK to call it low glycemic index carbs. But it’s not low carb. It’s the opposite, it’s almost pure carbs. It’s absorbed slowly, but most (if not all) of the starch is absorbed.
There is no way only ten grams of carbs spiked my blood sugar for seven hours. I have eaten more than that with just minor effects (see above).
Dreamfields’ marketing claims are not true. Dreamfields are sabotaging the weight loss of low carbers just to sell more of their pasta.
Unless, perhaps, I’m a weird exception. Does it work for everybody else but not for me?
The real test
I did the test above last year, for my Swedish blog. I was convinced that Dreamfields pasta was a fraud.
This year Dreamfields pasta was tested more rigorously and the result was published in a trustworthy scientific journal called Diabetes Care:
The main authors of the article are Frank C. Nuttal, PhD, and Mary C. Gannon, PhD. They have previously studied the effects of low carb diets, so they were surprised by Dreamfields’ claims that pasta can be low carb.
After “numerous attempts” to have a look at the data that Dreamfields base their claims on (not allowed) the researchers decided to test it themselves.
Five participants ate the Dreamfields pasta (50g CHO) and tested their blood sugar. Then they ate the same amount of regular pasta and tested their blood sugar for comparison.
The result
Pretty shockingly the results on the blood sugar were just the same with Dreamfields’ and regular pasta. No difference!
The researchers were surprised so they recruited five new participants and did the test again. The result were the same once again – no perceptible difference.
The scientific article can be read for free here:
- Nuttall, FQ, et al. Glycemic response to ingested dreamfields pasta compared with traditional pasta. Diabetes Care. 2011 Feb;34(2):e17-8.
The Dreamfields Pasta Fraud
Dreamfields have been selling their fake low carb pasta since january 2004. It’s quite popular. There is no way to know how many people have failed to lose weight because of it, concluding that “low carb does not work”.
Low carb usually works just fine. But not if you eat a lot of pasta.
I’m willing to bet any amount of money that Dreamfields pasta is just the tip of the iceberg. Low carb in America has turned into special low carb pasta, low carb ice cream, low carb bread and low carb chocolate bars. And it’s mostly just marketing hype. There is nothing low carb about this junk food:
Real healthy low carb food is meat, fish, vegetables and butter, ideally from your local farmer. Dreamfields and companies like them have turned “Low Carb” into a joke, just to make money.
Obese people who trust them just gain weight. But diabetics spike their blood sugar and may end up amputating their feet and becoming blind.
There are a few possible explanations. Either Dreamfields and others like them are ignorant, evil or just plain greedy. Probably greed is the most likely explanation. Also, they probably think that consumers are stupid. But they are wrong about that.
The pasta fraud is revealed.
You can help your friends. If they eat fake low carb products and have trouble losing weight, chances are that’s why.
Spread the word. Let’s make low carb work again. Real low carb.
Continued…
Moore on Dreamfieldsgate – Interview with the Pasta President and even more evidence that Dreamfields pasta is just like any pasta: high carb.
Spreading the truth
Go to Dreamfields’ Facebook page and like the link to this post*. Let’s spread the truth to all of the 29 000 members. Dreamfields have gotten away with fooling overweight people and diabetics long enough.
*/ You have to like Dreamfields first, but then you can easily “unlike” it again: bottom left side of the page.
Of course you can spread this info via your Facebook, Twitter and blog too if you’d like. Feel free to copy any part of it. If you link to this post it will appear higher in the results when people search for “Dreamfields pasta” on Google. It’s already #14 or so. Spread the word so that fewer diabetics and others are hurt by these fraudulent marketing claims.
353 comments
I don't eat a lot at a time and always balance out with protein and veggies.
The Diabetes Article you showed was RETRACTED.
P.S.: I'm not defending Dreamfields Pasta, I am also a diabetic patient looking for some good diet options.
I am in the throes of cramped suppression here at my work-desk, hunched over like a human comma straining in vain to squelch the mud-horn. This pasta tasted SO good...I over-indulged last night...and now the methane cows have come home to roost.
I have NEVER had this happen; I may as well have necked down an entire crock pot of red beans...
The leftovers are going into the disposal as soon as I waddle carefully home.
http://www.meandmydiabetes.com/2012/10/13/nuttall-gannon-dreamfield-p...
You act like you really think organic foods is organic, it's all lies
Get ur facts straight before you talk. Everyone's body is different . Thank you dream field I can eat pasta, my hubby can too without neuropathy. ?
Here are the facts. A fasting blood glucose (minimum 8 hours fasting) below 126 is considered pre-diabetes! Also checking your glucose levels 20 times in a few hours is foolish, will not be very accurate, and certainly this person is not diabetic.
Here is the way to determine if this product works. Eat it, wait two hours check your levels, then check your glucose levels fasting after 8 hours. Not every person is the same, not every person will have the same results, pick up a diabetic cook book, learn to count carbs (it's very simple), and stop relying on the internet for accurate information. If you would like to learn more about diabetes then use Google Scholar (scholar.google.com) it's all fact based, peer reviewed and not someones opinion.
Don't believe me check it out for yourself, but then again I could be wrong a DMII Nurse Practitioner. Enjoy Dream Fields Pasta I only use it and have no issues with spiking glucose levels.
Dreamland pasta is a huge difference between regular pastas. You don't need to check levels 20 times, REALLY!!!!!!!! LUDICROUS.
I check 6 to 8 times a day.
Before every meal or snack and after. I take insulin 4/5 times a day.
Dreamland has never effected my levels the way regular pasta would. How many of these authors have had Type 1 Diabetes 40 years or longer.
Portions are experimental to find out what works for you.
Sooner or later we all cheat one way or the other.
If anyone disagrees that's fine because you have not come to that bridge yet to cross over. I weighed 255 in 1976 by 1977 I was 175. Since then I never went past 187 42 years later. My voice is from experience. One more thing for anyone out there trying to control your weight, if you like vegetables and fruits that's 80% of the battle. The rest is exercise.
"EAT TO LIVE, DON'T LIVE TO EAT"
Type 1 and type 2 are very différent. This website is helping mainly the type 2 diabetics or pre diabetics achieve their goal of reversing their symptoms of diabetes.
But this is an outright lie. I know that not all low carbers are intolerant but what if someone with an allergy were to ingest their product and get awfully sick? Perhaps a law suit would make them think twice.
I will say this, and only because I noticed a product in one of your images that is made by a company of a different product I use..Big Train has a waffle mix that doesn't make me sick.
When I ingest carbs I get violently ill...I've been using the waffle mix sort of like bisquick and it's allowed me to make a lot of lower carb items that just aren't in the market (or are horrible, or ridiculously expensive).
I will also say that I'm very glad that someone looked into this before I tried dreamfields as I've seen it everywhere and have been incredibly skeptical of it's dubious claims. So thanks so much for this. I appreciate the data.
I think most people are missing the point of the article.
The article was aimed at the folks looking for low-carb (Ketogenic diet) NOT aimed at diabetics. He just used Blood sugar and glycemic index to test (and prove) his question.
The packaging is deceptive and it clearly is not “low carb”.
A normal body should clear blood sugars in less than 2 hours. This means BS should be < 120 (or <110 in Europe as they use stricter parameters) after eating anything.
If a person (without diabetes) ate an entire ice cream cake decorated with candy corn and cotton candy... a normal body would control it’s BS to below 120 within 2 hours.
The article showed that Dreamfields pasta was SLOW to break down and absorb the sugars.
Meaning that the “spikes” in BS were not hugely high... but they REMAINED higher than they should for 7+ hours.
So... while this might be ok for a diabetic diet, it is NOT ok for people to be successful with a Ketogenicdiet.
Essentially people who eat Dreamfields pasta DO absorb every one of those 56 carbs...but it is spread out over the next several hours following that pasta meal.
For people seeking a ketogenic diet (weight loss) a better pasta would be Edamame pasta. This is soy based, high in protein, high in fiber but low in net carbs. 8 net carbs in 2ou compared to 40 in reg pasta or veggie pasta or wheat pasta.
Hope this clarify. Good luck.
I like Dreamfields and will continue with it weekly or every other week. I like the way it cooks and tastes. If the company is lying to us, what company isn't?
Should the food industry manufacture food that our bodies can’t absorb? Do we really need to chew food that doesn’t make us satiated, food that gives us no energy, food that isn’t real food? ...That’s an interesting philosophical question."
I thought this was a joke at first but you are serious. This confirms to me that some people can be completely rational in some areas of life and completely stupid in other areas. It's called scientific and societal progression. If someone wants to taste a pizza without the health detriment, who are you to tell them that their desire is not as valid as your desire to watch a movie? Of course food and the human body should be modified in accordance with our modern and future lifestyles. Should we keep our food and bodily processes at the same level of advancement forever or should we continually improve our practices so that oneday we can make a calorie-less pizza without much effort or resource at all?
All I can tell you is that I can see the changes they talk about in my Blood Glucose monitor. Their marketing may be a fraud but their product works. What is really going on is they make this product out of a very hard Durum wheat, it takes longer to digest there fore no spike in blood sugar. It works like having 1/2 the calories made out of "sugar alcohol" which takes longer to digest. In other words Its the same amount of calories just spread out over a longer period of time, just like the other low carbs products.