What are Net Carbs?

[Elleth Faewen]

What Are Net Carbs ?

Effective Carbohydrate Count (GROSS CARBS)

Start with: Total Carbohydrates
Subtract: Dietary Fiber
Subtract: Sugar Alcohols
Subtract: Hydrogenated Starch Hydrolysate
Subtract: Glycerine

The balance equals: Effective Carb Count (NET CARBS)

Explanation:

Let's talk about ?sugar alcohols? first. Sugar alcohols are also known as polyols. Sugar alcohols are sugar molecules with hydroxy, or alcohol, groups attached. Sugar alcohols have many of the characteristics of carbohydrates such as bulking and sweetening, but provide fewer calories, and do not impact blood glucose as sugar does. (This definition is taken from the Atkins Center.)

We know that not all carbohydrates behave the same way in the body. While most carbohydrates such as sugars and starches are digested by the body and turned into blood sugar, other carbohydrates such as glycerine and sugar alcohols behave differently. These carbohydrates do not in any significant way impact insulin or blood sugar levels. However, many health organizations have not yet focused on this important biochemical difference and treat all carbohydrates the same.

The nutritional information on low carb food products is intended to help consumers understand how products are formulated to provide them with the knowledge necessary to successfully follow a controlled carbohydrate nutritional approach. Low carb products are specifically formulated to minimize the impact of carbohydrates on ones' blood sugar. Elevated blood sugars and the resulting excessive insulin production can inhibit weight loss, weight management and increase the risk of diabetes and heart disease.

We need to provide accurate information to consumers who buy low carb products and to others for whom blood sugar levels are an important health issue. Atkins believes consumers would benefit tremendously by understanding the relative importance of the impact different types of carbohydrates have on blood sugar and that this information should be presented on the Nutrition Facts panel. The ?Net Carbs? are the only carbs you need to count when doing Atkins.

By keeping a tally of your net carb consumption, you can move through the four phases of Atkins with confidence.

We feel it is important at this point in the discussion to ask our members to take note that there IS controversy over whether sugar alcohols should be counted or not when it comes to figuring net carbs in a particular ?low carb? food. We are adding the following link to another one of our FAQ's because we feel it is important to give complete information to our members. Ultimately, when all is said and done, YOU need to be the judge of whether sugar alcohols will impact your body or not ? or, in other words, whether you should ?count them or not?. Please go back and read this link when you finish this article:

What are Sugar Alcohols?

Continuing our discussion:

Carbohydrate is a major category of food, including all the fruits, vegetables, grains and starches. If you choose to do the Atkins way of eating for a lifetime, you must bring some exacting standards to the process of deciding what carbohydrate foods you intend to eat. That way you can fashion a great way to eat long term?not simply a weight-loss regimen.

When doing the Atkins way of eating, you will control the number of grams of carbohydrates you eat and will focus on certain food groups rather than others. One reason you will need to do this is because not all carbohydrate found in food is created equal. Most carbohydrate is digested by your body and turned into glucose?and most nutritionists refer to this as digestible carbohydrate. However, some carbohydrate can be digested by your body but not turned into glucose (glycerin is one example), and some carbohydrate is not digestible at all, such as fiber, and is therefore eventually excreted by your body. These last two types of carbohydrate don't have an impact on your blood-sugar levels. Understanding the different behavior of carbohydrate in your body can help you make smart food choices.

Food labels indicate how much fiber is in a product, but you cannot necessarily rely on food labels. Unfortunately, in 2001 the Food and Drug Administration rejected a request by numerous health-food manufacturers to allow nondigestible and nonmetabolized carbohydrates to be listed separately on packaging. Such labeling would have given diabetics and other people with glucose/insulin disorders the information upon which to make health-promoting decisions.

The fact that fiber is not converted to blood sugar makes for an interesting benefit for people doing the Atkins way of eating, allowing you to sneak in a few extra carbs in the form of high-fiber foods. Be aware that ?sneaking,? is most definitely not the same thing as cheating.

Example: Let's compare a cookie made of white flour and sugar with a couple of fiber-rich crackers. Both contain 10 grams of carbs, but there the similarity ends. Eat the cookie and you'll send all 10 grams of carbs coursing into your bloodstream. But when you chomp into the crackers (which have, say, 4 grams of fiber) only 6 of those 10 grams impact on your blood sugar. Basically, you can deduct the grams of fiber from the food's total carb count. The net number of grams are the carbs that count when you do Atkins. In the case of those crackers, you got a 4 gram free ride.

Consider the possibilities! By merely choosing fiber-rich foods over their flab-inducing, refined counterparts, you can benefit your health and get more bang for your carbohydrate buck. And determining which carbs count is simple: Check the total fiber grams listed on the food label and subtract that number from the total grams of carbohydrate listed.

Once you know which carbs impact on your blood sugar and which do not, you can eat more of foods that give you a "free ride."

We hope this information has helped explain the term "net carbs", how they impact our body, and why they are the magic number we count when doing a low carb way of eating such as the Atkins. We stress once gain that it has to be the decision of the individual member whether they eat the low carb bars, shakes, candy, cookies, etc. that contain sugar alcohols. Our advice would be to tell you to tread carefully. If you see that these products do not negatively impact your weight loss, we congratulate you. If you have successfully been losing weight but have recently hit a plateau, please consider that products containing sugar alcohols could be the culprit. A good number of our members find that, indeed, they DO need to count those carbs.

Note: For those who are interested, this is the definition of ?hydrogenated starch hydrolysate?:

Hydrogenated starch hydrolysates are a family of pleasant tasting bulk sweetners used in a variety of products. They are exceptionally well suited for sugar-free candies because they do not crystallize.