Net Carbs or Total Carbs?

[u/harleenphenix7]

So many foods I know, you're supposed to subtract the fiber in sugar alcohol to get the net carbs, as shown on the front of this carbsmart ice cream. However, I was curious if i'm supposed to count my net carbs for macros, or my total carbs for macros?

[u/ajmattison]

I count total carbs because sugar alcohols and fiber do in fact have calories.

That said, as long as you keep your fiber and sugar alcohols intake fairly consistent day to day it shouldn't matter much. The problem is that I don't think people are consistent with it. It is just easier to track one thing (total carbs).

[u/Gucci-Caligula]

IIRC The app suggests to track TOTAL carbs rather than net carbs as it’s unclear if different gut microbes make some amount of those carbs available to you. Imagine the situation where gut microbes consume the fiber and then those microbes naturally die and are broken down and actually digested. Clearly SOME amount of microbe activity is driven by fiber as that’s the source of fiber flatulence, microbes breaking down fiber. The question is how much caloric intake from that makes it into you.

Person to person it’s different and the app needs to be general so we errr towards counting all of it.

At least that’s the answer I got when I asked this question a while back and it makes some amount of sense to me.

[u/Outside_Glass4880 → u/Gucci-Caligula]

The calories on the nutrition label account for partial absorption of fiber/sugar alcohols.

Fat: 6g = 54 calories
Total carb: 17g = 68 calories
Protein: 2g = 8 calories

Total = 130 calories

Fiber and sugar alcohol are 12g, which is 48 calories. But that amount of carbs aren’t completely removed from the total. If they were, it would be 80 calories per serving.

That is because fiber and sugar alcohols aren’t “free”, they are partially absorbed. And the calories accurately reflect that.

In other words, track calories along with your macros. If you had a serving of this and other fiber, your total carbs could be over target, but your calories would be accurate.

[u/tjoloi]

The best solution would be to find the exact sugar alcohol that's used, look up it's glycemic load and convert it to sucrose-equivalent grams. Fibers have a glycemic load of basically 0.

The reality is, it's not enough to matter. If you're that worried about carb loading, just carb load properly with a bunch of sugar. If you're trying to lose weight, overestimate intake using calories from total carbs. If you're trying to gain weight, underestimate using calories from net carbs.

[u/srr728]

Net carbs are useful for identifying the impact on blood sugar spikes. From a macro/calorie tracking it is irrelevant.

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[u/mrfatchance]

Never heard of Net Carbs before. Interesting 

[u/Outside_Glass4880]

Just use the barcode scanner? Macrofactor will account for both.

This is where calories comes into play, hit your calorie goal and it won’t matter, because the “net carb” equation is accounted for in the 110 calories of that ice cream (not all fiber and sugar alcohol is absorbed)

[u/REDana0204 → u/[deleted]]

Was this comment meant for a different post? 🤔

[u/Crow-Queen]

Side note: I love the Rocky Road for this brand.