● Food Intelligence · Pasta
Across 205 logged meals where macaroni was eaten alone (171 members), Signos members averaged a +41.2 mg/dL glucose peak — with 68.3% of responses topping +30 mg/dL. A high carb load (≥60g) pushes that average up 25%; going from the lightest to the heaviest carb tier lifts the average from +35.9 to +48.9 mg/dL.
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Yes — across 205 logged meals where macaroni was eaten alone (171 members), the average glucose peak was +41.2 mg/dL, with 68.3% of responses exceeding +30 mg/dL. In our single-item cohort of 205 macaroni logs, the median peak was +42 mg/dL and 59.5% of responses landed in the high-spike tier (above +35 mg/dL). Individual responses vary widely — the IQR spans 29 mg/dL (p25 +25, p75 +54). The single biggest lever is total meal carb load: high-carb builds (≥60g, n=3,356) drove a 25.1% higher response than the low-carb baseline (p<0.001). The form of the dish — mac and cheese, macaroni salad, or plain — matters far less than how much total carbohydrate surrounds it. These are observational findings, not causal.
Some members spike +35.9 mg/dL. Others spike +48.9. The only way to know how you'll spike is to measure with a Signos CGM.
Macaroni produces a mean peak of +41.2 mg/dL across 205 logged meals where it was eaten alone (171 members). Individual responses vary widely — the IQR spans 29 mg/dL, running from +25 to +54 mg/dL. The published GI of 47 reflects the dense extruded-starch matrix of short-tube pasta, which digests more slowly than bread. But glycemic load tells a different story: at ~48g of carbs per serving, macaroni's GL of 23 is high. Two modifiers drive most of the cohort variance. High total carb load (≥60g, n=3,356) elevates the response by 25.1% above the low-carb baseline (p<0.001); high sugar content at the meal (≥20g, n=1,392) adds another 20.8% penalty (p<0.001). Protein pairings are real but small — sausage, the strongest tested, averaged just −3 mg/dL across 190 matched logs. These effects are observational, not causal.
This page draws on Signos production CGM data covering 7,376 meals containing macaroni across 3,964 unique members (broader cohort), captured between March 2025 and April 2026. Data was filtered to meals with a measured glucose rise between 0 and 100 mg/dL (ppgr_case='regular') to exclude outliers and sensor artifacts. The page primary is the single-item sub-cohort: 205 meals where macaroni was logged without other foods (171 unique members), yielding a mean peak of +41.2 mg/dL, median +42 mg/dL, IQR p25 +25 / p75 +54. Statistical comparisons between modifier groups use Welch's t-test on matched pairs; all dominant modifier effects reach p<0.001. The recipe builder is powered by the broader 7,376-meal cohort, where sub-group N requirements make the larger pool necessary for reliable slot estimates. Cohort confidence for the single-item cohort is rated medium (n=205, threshold ≥100 and <500). A minimum of 30 matched meals is required for any pairing to appear in the builder; the whole-wheat macaroni and chickpea/lentil macaroni form options fell below the publication threshold and are excluded from the swap table.