Sugar and Carbs

ryanbennett9066389
ryanbennett9066389 Posts: 5 Member
edited March 2015 in Food and Nutrition
Hi
I have been using mfp for a while now and have been wondering why the sugar and carbohydrates are calculated seperatly. If sugar is broken down into glucose(carbohydrate) then surely the sugar should be included into the carbohydrate calculation and carry a an energy value or caloric value and not separate from the carbohydrate. Basically wouldn't your daily caloric intake always be different base on your sugar intake because the sugars energy value is not added to the daily calorie intake, its just of measurement of how much sugar you taking in.

I hope I am making some sense in trying to get my point through and question answered


Thanks

Replies

  • futuremanda
    futuremanda Posts: 816 Member
    I could be wrong, but I interpreted it as being *calculated* in with total carbs, but *listed* again separately on the side, to allow people to track / see their sugar intake at a glance.

    So I can see my apple had 19g carbs. 14 of which was sugar.
  • Azexas
    Azexas Posts: 4,334 Member
    edited March 2015
    From what I gather (and can be completely wrong) is the sugar macro is supposed to be "added sugar" but you can't really differentiate between the added and the not added.

    I don't track my sugar, I swapped it out for fiber instead. The MFP sugar goal is very very low anyway. A couple pieces of fruit and you're over.
  • Mistizoom
    Mistizoom Posts: 578 Member
    edited March 2015
    In the U.S., "carbs" are total carbs, they include complex carbs (not listed separately on label) + fiber + sugar + sugar alcohols. The last 3 are listed separately (usually) but also included in the total carb count. Right now, the sugar count includes both naturally occurring and added sugar. In the future, I believe added sugars will be listed separately.
  • dcw67
    dcw67 Posts: 1 Member
    edited May 2015
    I thought the same as futuremanda at first, but today I see in the summary at the bottom of the food page that my carb goal is 79 and my sugar goal is 91. So either the goal calculation is wrong or sugar and carbs both have to be counted. Which one is it?

    Edit: OK so according to the MFP FAQs the goals are a calculation. Sugar goal is 15% of goal energy which may differ from the way the carb goal is calculated (based on your goal percentages). Looking at the actual figures against the foods and summary total the sugars are always less than the total carbs so they are counted as part of the carb value.
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    ryanbennett9066389 wrote: »
    Hi
    I have been using mfp for a while now and have been wondering why the sugar and carbohydrates are calculated seperatly. If sugar is broken down into glucose(carbohydrate) then surely the sugar should be included into the carbohydrate calculation and carry a an energy value or caloric value and not separate from the carbohydrate. Basically wouldn't your daily caloric intake always be different base on your sugar intake because the sugars energy value is not added to the daily calorie intake, its just of measurement of how much sugar you taking in.

    I hope I am making some sense in trying to get my point through and question answered


    Thanks

    That makes very good sense. Sugar is just a subset the Carb category. When I could carbs it includes everything that is not a Fat or Protein.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    dcw67 wrote: »
    I thought the same as futuremanda at first, but today I see in the summary at the bottom of the food page that my carb goal is 79 and my sugar goal is 91. So either the goal calculation is wrong or sugar and carbs both have to be counted. Which one is it?

    This just means that you put in a custom goal for carbs and didn't change the sugar goal. You can change your sugar goal if you want.

  • barbgb1948
    barbgb1948 Posts: 4 Member
    I have Premium. I want to change the sugar goal. The only goals I see are Calories, Net Carbs, Protein, and Fat. Where is the sugar goal to change? The goals are the same on the android app and Windows 10.

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