Supermarkets having different nutritional carb values?

EmilyMay1 said:

Tesco - 2.3g
Asda - 3.9g
Sainsburys - 4.8g
Morrisons 4.3g

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The difference between those is not that big, it all says swede is a very low carb vegetable.

EmilyMay1 said:

Google - 9g

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This is the outlier, and I expect Google also says their source is the USDA.
In the US, fiber is included in the carb count, so you have to deduct it from total carbs.
In the UK and Europe, fibre is listed separately from the carbs, so the carbs on the package/webside are what you get.

Flags to spot the difference are spelling: fiber/fibre, mention of 'net carbs' or 'total carbs' (UK simply says carbs, no need to differentiate between total and net because the fibre wasn't in the count anyway), and of course the name of the website you find your information: If it ends in .uk it'll tell you carbs without the fibre.

There's also a difference between cooked and raw state of swede, Cronometer says 100g raw swede has 6.3g of carbs, while cooked swede (presumably steamed) has 4.8g carbs.

JenniferM55 said:

There's also a difference between cooked and raw state of swede, Cronometer says 100g raw swede has 6.3g of carbs, while cooked swede (presumably steamed) has 4.8g carbs.

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So where did the carbs go? I don't think this is possible.

I've read several articles that cooking and freezing foods destroys many nutrients so maybe it can possibly destroy the carbs as well !

Antje77 said:

So where did the carbs go? I don't think this is possible.

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I'm assuming some of the starch in swede is changed into resistant starch and passes through the stomach as fibre does?

Not all carbs are created equal. From sugars to starches to fiber, different carbs have different effects on your health.

Resistant starch is a carb that is also considered a type of fiber (1).

Increasing your intake of resistant starch can be beneficial for the bacteria in your intestines as well as for your cells (2Trusted Source, 3Trusted Source).

Interestingly, research has shown that the way you prepare common foods like potatoes, rice and pasta may change their resistant starch content.

This article will tell you how you can increase the amount of resistant starch in your diet without even changing what you eat.

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JenniferM55 said:

I'm assuming some of the starch in swede is changed into resistant starch and passes through the stomach as fibre does?

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I did some experimenting with cooling and reheating foods a wile back to see if it would make a difference.
No difference for me, I needed exactly the same amount of insulin the first day as the second day, after it had spent a night in the fridge.

Antje77 said:

I did some experimenting with cooling and reheating foods a wile back to see if it would make a difference.
No difference for me, I needed exactly the same amount of insulin the first day as the second day, after it had spent a night in the fridge.

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Scary how hit and miss it seems regarding counting carbs. All the more reasons to have that glucose meter to hand.

ianf0ster said:

Water added by cooking thus 'diluting' the carbs? That is measuring 100gms uncooked and then the same uncooked amount after having been cooked.
With things that hold a lot of water when cooked, like rice, it's important to distinguish if it's just dry weight that's being measured before and after cooking.

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This. If you're looking at a 'carbs per 100g, as sold' value, boiling, steaming etc. will add water weight, so there's less of the raw vegetable per 100g. Roasting will have the opposite effect. Cooked values make things harder to quantify.

I discovered with a shock when I first started full tilt at weight loss that Tesco brand pasta uses 'when cooked according to instructions' for their per 100g nutritional values. The dry weight values were nowhere to be found. Are we supposed to cook the pasta for 'exactly' 10 to 12 minutes and then weigh it before eating it?

As regards the different values from different supermarkets for exactly the same item, I'd say average them, ignoring US-based values, and that will be as close to accurate as you can reasonably get.