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Confusing / Conflicting Information About Carbs In Almonds

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GabrielKnight

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I want to use almonds in recipes and to make my own almond milk, but the consensus of the carb content is all over the place.

The USDA says 22g / 100g.
People say that almond flour is ideal for low carb baking but 22% seems high to me.
Bobs Red Mill almond flour reckons also 22g /100g,

Atkins says theres only 2.2g per 24 nuts

My Waitrose bag of almonds records 6.5g / 100g

Tesco almonds: 6.9g/ 100g
http://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=254914365

Why such big discrepancies? It could be the difference between staying in ketosis or being kicked out of it.
 
how much almond flour are you intending to eat?

This is the key question.
I find that nuts and low carb baking are extremely satiating, so couldn't possibly eat enough to make significant differences to my blood glucose. Especially when combined with other foods (such as the cream I pour over my mug cake ;) ) Another factor is that however many carbs there are in nuts, they are not quick release like sugar or grains. We can generally tolerate the carbs in veg, seeds and nuts far better than in starchy or sugary foods because of the much slower digestion.

Perhaps the best option is to do some baking, eat a portion, and test your blood glucose.
 
Hi @GabrielKnight and welcome to the forum. In the USA, the labels show carbs including fiber (note funny spelling). In the UK, the carbs are shown with the fibre subtracted. This explains the discrepancy. I would go with the Tesco data.
 
I wondered about that, but the Waitrose packet of almonds I have here says 7.4g of fibre / 100g, so it still doesn't add up / make it any clearer. Up 'til now I've assumed hat nutritional tests / label standards would be similar across the board, but carb counts differing by a factor of 3.5 is perplexing.

With regards to how many almonds I might like to eat, I'm not particularly interested in baking, but would like to use them to make low carb milk and in non-baking recipes in general. If the 22 carb / 100g count it right, my homemade almond milk works out heavier than cows milk and would be a waste of effort.

In my own circumstances, I'm not as concerned about how filling they are but want to know an accurate carb content / amount as I'm trying to keep under 20g / day for ketosis / weight loss.
 
GabrielKnight said:
I want to use almonds in recipes and to make my own almond milk, but the consensus of the carb content is all over the place.

The USDA says 22g / 100g.
People say that almond flour is ideal for low carb baking but 22% seems high to me.
Bobs Red Mill almond flour reckons also 22g /100g,

Atkins says theres only 2.2g per 24 nuts

My Waitrose bag of almonds records 6.5g / 100g

Tesco almonds: 6.9g/ 100g
http://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=254914365

Why such big discrepancies? It could be the difference between staying in ketosis or being kicked out of it.
Click to expand...
I've noticed that carb content tends to vary quite a bit, which I can't understand either. Walnuts seem to vary from 3.1g to about 6.0g. Whether it's nuts from different regions, or not, I'm not sure.
 
Might be something to do with the region they are grown as suggested above or maybe the moisture content due to blanching. I don't know. Ready made unsweetened almond milk has negligible carbs so I don't see how you can go far wrong. Good luck.
 
Sukrin almond flour (from Tesco / waitrose) is 4g carbs per 100g. Almond flour does seem to vary quite a bit so you need to shop around and read the nutrition labels.
 
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