Net Carbs, Sugars, and Sugar Alcohols

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austinjwalker
austinjwalker Posts: 19 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I've been finding conflicting stuff online and figured I may as well ask here. I'm finding some sources (like the Atkins website) that say Net Carbs = Carbs - Dietary Fiber - Sugar Alcohols. Others are saying Dietary Fiber - Sugar.

This is, I'm guessing, a major difference. For example, at a friend's house today, they had chicken salad sandwiches. I had it without the bread. That put my net carbs for that meal at 11, IF it's - sugar, not - sugar alcohols. I've seen some labels that list both sugars and sugar alcohols.

On US nutrition labels, do you subtract the sugar (g) from the total carbs? Or just sugar alcohols? Or are they the same on US labels?

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  • austinjwalker
    austinjwalker Posts: 19 Member
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    So, let's say I have some mythical food that has

    TOTAL CARBS / 20g
    DIETARY FIBER / 3g
    SUGARS / 5g
    SUGAR ALCOHOLS / 10g

    The Net Carbs of this serving would be 20-3-10=7g, not 20-3-5-10=2g or 20-3-5=12g, correct?
  • mlp2522
    mlp2522 Posts: 4 Member
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    Your example would be 7g Net Carbs.

    If a carb is listed as just sugars, its pure carb, do not subtract it.

    If the label does not include sugar alcohols, it most likely does not include any.

    Remember carbs are a limit; its ok to be under your limit.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    I woud be careful subracting all sugar alcohols as some are partially absorbed. Erythritol is not absorbed, xylitol barely so (10%) but some maltitol products re digested and impact blood glucose.
  • austinjwalker
    austinjwalker Posts: 19 Member
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    Bummer! Makes sense but I was hoping I could subtract sugars lol

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