Net carbs - is fibre included in the UK?

January 11, 2008 6:22 AM

Net carbs question: In the UK, where fibre is listed separately from carbohydrate on food packaging, does the concept of net carbs still apply?

Take Quorn sausages, for example. The nutritional info on the packaging says (per 100g):

Protein - 11.7g
Carbs - 6.6g
- of which sugars - 0.7g
Fibre - 3.0g

According to the rules of high-protein dieting, that would make for 3.6g net carbs. But that's assuming that the fibre is included in the carbs count, and I don't think it is. I often see foods where the fibre content is greater than the carb content, although only by a few grammes.

posted by deeper red to food & drink (3 comments total)

According to this site it simply looks like the UK nutrition labels choose to list it as a seperate item, but it references the same thing. From my experience with Atkins, Fiber is Fiber (or Fibre in your case) and you would be correct in subtracting it from carbs.
posted by genial at 6:57 AM on January 11, 2008

My take is opposite genial's. Based on his link and this one, it appears that fibre is separated from the "carbohydrates" and "of which sugars" entries by two lines. If the fibre was included in the total carb count, it should have a line entry "of which fibre" below "carbohydrates", and not a completely separate entry.

Disclaimer: I am American, and this is just guesswork based on my own internal logic after viewing only two examples of UK nutrition labels. I do, however, have to pay attention to US labels due to my diabetes.
posted by owtytrof at 7:07 AM on January 11, 2008

This site also seems to agree that in the UK fiber is already taken into account in the carbohydrate count, thus my previous answer would be wrong.

I keep hearing about ‘net carbs’. What are these?
Not all carbohydrates can be digested by the body. Fibre, for example, passes through the body without affecting blood sugar levels. The Atkins diet focuses on those carbohydrates that can be digested and therefore affect blood sugar levels.

The ‘net’ carbohydrate value of a food, simply refers to the amount of digestible carbohydrate a product contains. In the UK, this is equivalent to the carbohydrate content given in the nutrition information chart on food packaging.
posted by genial at 7:21 AM on January 11, 2008