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Type 2 What does the carbohydrate measures on food products mean?

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philsmudge

Member
Messages
11
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hi, I've been a type 2 diabetic for 5 years and am still confused about the measure 'carbohydrates x grams of which sugars are x grams. Crisps are a prime example where the carbohydrate is usually 12g a bag of which sugars are 0.9g.Is this good or bad?
 
I ignore the "of which sugars" and use the total carb count. Rule of thumb 5g carbs per 100g product is low carb. The exception is "polyols" which are the carbs in artificial sweeteners. Your body can't absorb them (hence the unfortunate digestive effects when eaten in large amounts"
 
lessci said:
I ignore the "of which sugars" and use the total carb count. Rule of thumb 5g carbs per 100g product is low carb. The exception is "polyols" which are the carbs in artificial sweeteners. Your body can't absorb them (hence the unfortunate digestive effects when eaten in large amounts"
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Thanks lessci, that's what I thought, have recently have taken a lot more notice of the total carb count and it has made a difference to my control.
 
On a low level, it's total carbs minus fiber (which your body cannot convert into energy) minus sugar alcohols (as mentioned).

As far as if the example you mentioned is "good" or "bad"? That entirely depends.

On a high level, high glycemic index (and particularly high glycemic load) foods will generally spike your glucose levels rapidly when compared to low glycemic load foods which are generally characterized by more gradual blood glucose rises as low GI foods are digested slower.

There are many theories about what causes insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, but it's hard not to see how foods that cause a sharp blood glucose spike probably aren't best for someone with type 2 diabetes.

Long story short, you will have to decide what is "Good or bad" for your body. Many people on this forum believe that all carbohydrates are bad for you. Personally, I think the answer is a heck of a lot more complicated than that.
 
TorqPenderloin said:
On a low level, it's total carbs minus fiber (which your body cannot convert into energy) minus sugar alcohols (as mentioned).
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This is how they do the nutritional breakdowns in the USA; in the UK fibre is listed separately, and the total "carbohydrates...of which sugar..." value is the one to consider. This is an important distinction as we're basically a UK based forum.

@philsmudge: 12g carbs in a bag of crisps doesn't mean much on its own. You need to consider the actual weight of the contents: so if it's 12g carbs for a 25g weight bag then that's a lot, but 12g carbs for a 100g weight bag is more acceptable. The nutritional informations will normally give you carbs per 100gweight and will usually include a value per portion size too, but often the portion sizes can be stupidly small to make the figures look "better", so be careful over this.

Robbity
 
Hi. Set yourself a daily carb total to stay below and then just note the total carbs of any food you eat. A carb is only a 'good carb' if the stomach doesn't convert it to glucose. Some complex low-GI carbs may be partially undigested by the stomach e.g. the fibre part and not be converted to glucose.
 
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