Nutrition Information: Are Sugars the same as Carbs?

ivleafklover
ivleafklover Posts: 36 Member
edited September 21 in Food and Nutrition
On food labels they have Carbs and then Sugar listed under it. I'm confused because I'm wondering if Carbs is like a Total number with Sugar added into it? If that makes sense.

I understand that Sugar is a simple Carb, and all Carbs turn into sugar. So I'm wondering if Sugar on food labels is the same thing as Carbs?

I think I'm rambling on.

Thank you for any help :)

Replies

  • lotusfromthemud
    lotusfromthemud Posts: 5,335 Member
    All sugars are carbs, but not all carbs are sugar.

    There is some debate on this, as carbs are processed (depending on their level of refinement) into sugar fairly quickly by your body.

    The less processed a carb is, the slower this process is. Which is why you are more likely to get a spike/crash from a donut then a bunch of broccoli.

    HTH.
  • kitt7769
    kitt7769 Posts: 23
    Sugars are carbs and part of the total carbs you will find on the nutrition label.

    Having a separate sugar count helps those of us that need to watch our sugar intake, but I'm not sure if that is the reason they have it listed separately.
  • tigertchr23
    tigertchr23 Posts: 418 Member
    Good question . . . I have always wondered that too!
  • elmct57
    elmct57 Posts: 594 Member
    There are different types of carbs. Sugars are one of them. the others are Starch, Glycogen & Cellulose.
  • ivleafklover
    ivleafklover Posts: 36 Member
    Thank you this is quite helpful.

    So I'm guessing if you have a meal that lists 10g sugar and 10g carbs - I can take it as saying
    "This food is a total of 10g Carbs" which the sugar would be included just so long as there is nothing else listed under carbs.

    Would that be correct?

    :D
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    Thank you this is quite helpful.

    So I'm guessing if you have a meal that lists 10g sugar and 10g carbs - I can take it as saying
    "This food is a total of 10g Carbs" which the sugar would be included just so long as there is nothing else listed under carbs.

    Would that be correct?

    :D

    Yes--the "carbs" total is the sum--one of the "subtotals" is sugar.

    In most cases, if you see a label that says "10g Carbohydrates" and, under that, it says "10g sugar" that would be the signal to put that item down and choose something else. ....:laugh:
  • ivleafklover
    ivleafklover Posts: 36 Member
    In most cases, if you see a label that says "10g Carbohydrates" and, under that, it says "10g sugar" that would be the signal to put that item down and choose something else. ....:laugh:

    hehe Awesome! Thanks :D
    Very good advice as well. Very cool ;)
  • brityn
    brityn Posts: 443 Member
    The total amount of carbs includes the amount of sugar. Just liike under 'fat' you have saturated fat, monounsaturated fat etc. if the label says 14 g. carbs then 9 g. sugar, there's still only 14g. all together
  • DERBS21
    DERBS21 Posts: 33 Member
    Thank you so much. I was having a hard time understanding that too...Great Question and answers. Now I get it!
  • honeypiegirl3
    honeypiegirl3 Posts: 1
    Recently diagnosed diabetic type 2. Water makes me gag so I drink vitamin water zero, usually lemonade. The label says 5 g carbs with 0g sugars. Sweetened with stevia. I dont see any other ingredients that are in the carb/sugar category. I want to understand what that means for my glucose management. Plz help.
  • dboryszczyk
    dboryszczyk Posts: 1 Member
    when counting carb intake, if it's written on the laben 14g carbs, 6 sugar, 2 fibre, would that mean that it's 6 "pure" carbs (14-6-2)? I'm just trying to count correctly.

    Cheers,
    Dagmara
  • CitizenXVIII
    CitizenXVIII Posts: 117 Member
    It's been said, but to reiterate:

    There are many types of carbohydrates, all of which contain 4 Calories per gram. Fiber and sugar are two types of carbs. Since people try to manage their intake of these two types, then under the heading of Carbohydrates they show the amount of the total that those two types of carbs make up. The number listed by Carbohydrates is the TOTAL number of carbs. The fiber and sugar totals are a piece of the whole. If you are counting carbs for whatever reason, you need to look at the total. Myself, I would be more concerned with the sugar subtotal than the total amount of carbs.
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