Reduced digestible carbohydrate food having reduced blood glucose response

A method for reducing the digestion of a portion of the digestible carbohydrates in a reduced-digestible carbohydrate food formed from a dough, the food selected from the group consisting of a pasta, a noodle and a restructured rice particle, to reduce the glycemic index of the food, comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing a non-digestible protective material, in an amount of at least about 4% and up to about 40% by weight of the food, the non-digestible protective material comprising:
• (1) a structural material comprising at least one of:
• (i) a structural/viscous fermentable material selected from the group consisting of carrageenan, alginate, gum arabic, gum tragacanth, karaya gum, guar gum, locust bean gum, tara gum, tamarind gum, arabinoxylans, b-glucans, pectin, cellulose, methyl cellulose, gellan gum, xanthan gum, carboxymethylcellulose, propylene glycol alginate, modified resistant starches, and mixtures thereof, and
• (ii) a structural protein polymer selected from the group consisting of gluten, modified gluten, casein, soy, whey concentrate, and mixtures thereof;
• and
• (2) at least 25%, by weight of the non-digestible protective material, a rheology modifier selected from the group consisting of a fructooligosaccharide, inulin having a degree of polymerization (DP) from about 2-20 and an average DP of about 4-7, polydispersed inulin having a DP from about 2-60 and an average of about 10-12, and mixtures thereof;
• (b) providing a flour that contains discrete units of starch granules, in an amount of at least about 50%, by weight of the food, of the flour selected from the group consisting of flours of wheat, rye, barley, oat, sorghum, rice, corn, legume, pea, and potato, and mixtures thereof,
• (c) mixing intimately the non-digestible protective material with the flour in the presence of water to form a dough having a modified matrix structure that comprises the discrete units of starch granules that comprise available carbohydrate, and a protective food film network that includes the non-digestible protective material, which surrounds the discrete units of starch granules to provide protection of a portion of the available carbohydrate from digestion in the small intestine when the reduced digestible carbohydrate food is eaten, and
• (d) extruding the dough and drying the dough, to form the food,
• wherein the glycemic index of the food is at least 30% less than the glycemic index of a conventional food made from the flour, excluding any dilution of the food by the non-digestible protective material.