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MFP Math problem /error? Total carb< fibre+sugar

SamandaIndia
SamandaIndia Posts: 1,577 Member
edited November 27 in Social Groups
Today I proudly consumed 29 grams of fibre. Yay me. Total sugar 6 grams. Total carbs 31 grams.

Anyone who can explain to me how fibre+sugar (both carbs) can sum to more than total carbs?? Am I missing something here.

Replies

  • kirkor
    kirkor Posts: 2,530 Member
    edited January 2016
    Is this off one product?
  • Keto_T
    Keto_T Posts: 673 Member
    I don't know about your case but on my food diary things don't add up properly quite regularly. I think almost all of mine is due to MFP rounding (and not doing it very well).
  • thubten1
    thubten1 Posts: 29 Member
    SamandaIndia wrote: »
    Today I proudly consumed 29 grams of fibre. Yay me. Total sugar 6 grams. Total carbs 31 grams.

    Anyone who can explain to me how fibre+sugar (both carbs) can sum to more than total carbs?? Am I missing something here.

    As I understand it,fiber means "not digestible",and therefore does not count as a "carb"
  • SamandaIndia
    SamandaIndia Posts: 1,577 Member
    Above are totals gor my day summing all consumed items. Rounding errors could explain 1-2 grams but 6?
  • HeatherDunnell
    HeatherDunnell Posts: 43 Member
    edited January 2016
    Some of the food options you've chosen on here will already have the fibre deducted from the carbohydrates. Because here in the UK, the fibre on food labels is not included in the 'carbs amount' where as in the US it is. So it means the foods on here are listed both ways, depending on who has added them. I have manually entered my own food details to the 'my foods' section for any carb containing foods I eat so it is more accurate. My fibre total for today is 10 and sugar is 6, but total carbs shows 12 because the fibre has already been deducted, the extra 6 is coming from starch which doesn't show on MFP. Hope this makes sense lol
  • Sunny_Bunny_
    Sunny_Bunny_ Posts: 7,140 Member
    HeatherUk79 wrote: »
    Some of the food options you've chosen on here will already have the fibre deducted from the carbohydrates. Because here in the UK, the fibre on food labels is not included in the 'carbs amount' where as in the US it is. So it means the foods on here are listed both ways, depending on who has added them. I have manually entered my own food details to the 'my foods' section for any carb containing foods I eat so it is more accurate. My fibre total for today is 10 and sugar is 6, but total carbs shows 12 because the fibre has already been deducted, the extra 6 is coming from starch which doesn't show on MFP. Hope this makes sense lol

    I believe this is your explanation. I've even gotten incorrect info from scanning a lable plenty of times. I check all the info given against MFP now. As long as it's correct on the major stuff, I don't really care if the micro stuff is off. If something important is wrong, I will do a search without scanning to find one that matches my package (if there is one) or I'll have to create a new food for it. Other stuff, I would compare against the USDA website when I first entered it.
  • Dragonwolf
    Dragonwolf Posts: 5,600 Member
    SamandaIndia wrote: »
    Above are totals gor my day summing all consumed items. Rounding errors could explain 1-2 grams but 6?

    Fun fact -- the numbers on the nutrition labels have an error rate of up to something like 20%. So, 2+2 could equal 5 (or could equal 3). Add up that across half a dozen or a dozen items, and you can fairly easily end up with a 4 gram, or 12%, discrepancy (29g fiber + 6g sugar = 35g).
  • macchiatto
    macchiatto Posts: 2,890 Member
    Dragonwolf wrote: »
    SamandaIndia wrote: »
    Above are totals gor my day summing all consumed items. Rounding errors could explain 1-2 grams but 6?

    Fun fact -- the numbers on the nutrition labels have an error rate of up to something like 20%. So, 2+2 could equal 5 (or could equal 3). Add up that across half a dozen or a dozen items, and you can fairly easily end up with a 4 gram, or 12%, discrepancy (29g fiber + 6g sugar = 35g).

    Interesting. Good to know!
  • SamandaIndia
    SamandaIndia Posts: 1,577 Member
    Wow. Thanks for sharing. I had been assuming total carb = sugar + fibre. I need to rethink what is low carb now. European labels.
  • SamandaIndia
    SamandaIndia Posts: 1,577 Member
    Read the benefiber containers this morning.

    I have a little container which has a label saying carbohydrate 0.585g of which sugar -.
    Seperately lists fiber as 3 grams. Made in USA, purchased in Malaysia

    The big container label says Total carbs 4g, with a sub heading dietary fiber 3g, sugars 0g. Made in France, purchased in The Netherlands.

    Same product content. No wonder 1+1 may not =2.
    Many thanks @HeatherUk79 @Dragonwolf and @macchiatto and @Sunny_Bunny_

    Looks like net carbs are not as simple as gross carb minus fiber when sometimes the manufacturer has done that for us (outside USA). Fascinating journey.
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