Carbs vs Sugar

Iloveleah1
Iloveleah1 Posts: 1 Member
edited November 24 in Food and Nutrition
Why does this site list carbs and sugar separately? Im confused bc everywhere else I go on the internet tells me that sugars are types of carbs or that sugars make up carbs.

Replies

  • umayster
    umayster Posts: 651 Member
    edited September 2015
    Some people like to track sugar. You are right, the separate tracking makes no real sense and you can remove sugar from your display so it doesn't show up.
  • KittensMaster
    KittensMaster Posts: 748 Member
    Almost everywhere differentiates between fiber carbs and those that are not. Some separate sugar alcohols

    Nothing new or magical

  • abatonfan
    abatonfan Posts: 1,120 Member
    Sugar and dietary fiber is a form of carbohydrate. It's like saying that you have five pair of pants, with two being red and one being purple. They're still pants, even if they're a different color (I hope this analogy makes sense).

    Some people have medical needs that require them to know the general composition of their total carbohydrates. For instance, I am a diabetic and have to subtract dietary fiber from my total carbohydrates when calculating my insulin dose (dietary fiber has minimal effects on my blood glucose), while I might adjust when I take my mealtime insulin dose depending on the sugar/fiber content.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Iloveleah1 wrote: »
    Why does this site list carbs and sugar separately? Im confused bc everywhere else I go on the internet tells me that sugars are types of carbs or that sugars make up carbs.

    Sugars are included in carbs AND shown on their own. Same with fiber. Some people like to see their sugar numbers specifically (your carbs will be higher than your sugar, since starches are another form of carbs, like from rice).

    There are lots of other options of things to track if the sugar number doesn't interest you.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    Iloveleah1 wrote: »
    Why does this site list carbs and sugar separately? Im confused bc everywhere else I go on the internet tells me that sugars are types of carbs or that sugars make up carbs.

    Sugars are a part of carbs - see labels which say "Carbohydrates .. X grams of which Sugars ... Y grams" where Y is never larger than X.
  • Stoshew71
    Stoshew71 Posts: 6,553 Member
    edited September 2015
    Sugar is usually referring to monosaccharides (i.e: glucose/dextrose, fructose, ribose, and galactose) or disaccharides (i.e: lactose, sucrose). While all these sugars all belong to the carbohydrate family, so do more complex forms such as polysacchrorides and starches and fiber (such as potatoes, pastas, wheat, rice, and corn).

    As someone earlier pointed out, some people need to track sugar separately from the rest of other carbs. Simple sugars like the mono and di-saccharides have a very high glycemic index which means they are very easily digested and absorbed into the blood stream and can raise blood sugar levels very quickly. More complex carbohydrates like starches are a bit lower glycemic. People with insulin insentitiveties like diabetes have to pay very close attention to their sugar intake.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Iloveleah1 wrote: »
    Why does this site list carbs and sugar separately? Im confused bc everywhere else I go on the internet tells me that sugars are types of carbs or that sugars make up carbs.

    carbohydrates are a macro-nutrient...sugar is a micro-nutrient and a subset of carbs...not all carbs are sugar, but all sugar is carbs.
  • JeffArmstrong112
    JeffArmstrong112 Posts: 17 Member
    You can (and should) do more research to help answer your question. Carbohydrates is simply a class of molecules that contain carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen in particular ratios and are metabolized by your body. Sugars are a particular group of carbohydrates.

    Again, more research on your (an my part) is probably best before explaining in detail why you should lump them together or not. However, I can say a few words that I know are correct. Most sugars you get in processed foods or even white granulated sugars that make things sweet are usually in the form of fructose, which is easily and readily broken down in to glucose which is what your body uses for fuel (and when it is high and out of control leads to diabetes type II or is a result of diabetes type I). There are also other carbohydrates that are not easily broken down and go directly to glucose, such as the starch carbohydrates in potatoes.

    Your body does not break down complex carbohydrates as readily as fructose or other simply sugars and as such people like to track sugars separately.


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