Hidden carbs

[Thatsit]

:q: :q:
I don't really understand this..
If I look at the nutritional label on food and I calculate that the net carbs are 2 carbs per serving for example... How can they have hidden carbs :help: .
Wouldn’t 2 carbs per serving be 2 carbs per serving?
Any help trying to muddle my way thru would be most helpful :agree:
:q: :q: :q: :q:

[s-piper]

First of all, what food is this?

Secondly, although I know it's used in Atkins, not all LC diets use net carbs.
With net carbs it's simply a way to subtract the type of carbs that are thought to have less of an impact on blood sugar and insulin release like fiber. So you subtract dietary fiber from total carbs.

[Thatsit]

No food in particular, just looking at the nutritional labels on foods. I am aware you have to subtract fiber from carb to get net carb. I just assumed if you looked at the label the correct nutritional info would be there and you could determine the correct amt of carbs per serving by jus subtracting the fiber from the carbs.
But I’m hearing about hidden carbs unless the nutritional label is incorrect.
For argument sake: Roasted Seaweed … LOL I know….
Ing: seaweed, olive and sesame oil and salt… Simple
1 pkg = 5g
Cal 30
Fat 2
Carbs 1 g
Fiber 1 g

I would total that as 0 carbs
But with the Hidden Carb calculator on Linda’s Low carb site the carb count is 2 g????!!!!!

How can that be!!

[Liz53]

Wouldn’t 2 carbs per serving be 2 carbs per serving?

Manufacturers are allowed to round down the amount of carbs. If one serving has 2.49 grams of carbs, the manufacturer can claim 2. If it's a ridiculously small serving, and you eat 4 servings, then that could be 2 grams unaccounted for.

Some supplements contain carbs that are not declared. I don't have a complete list, but I know glucosamine chondroitin is one.

There are some foods that you think of as meat and fat, but some contain sugars, either added or natural. Examples would be sausage, bacon and scallops and no doubt there are others.

All of these could be considered Hidden Carbs and eat enough of them in a day and you could go over your personal threshold for carb tolerance.

[KDH]

:q: :q:
I don't really understand this..
If I look at the nutritional label on food and I calculate that the net carbs are 2 carbs per serving for example... How can they have hidden carbs :help: .
Wouldn’t 2 carbs per serving be 2 carbs per serving?
Any help trying to muddle my way thru would be most helpful :agree:
:q: :q: :q: :q:

The FDA allows numbers to be rounded off. And you can bet it's always rounded down when possible!

[KDH]

No food in particular, just looking at the nutritional labels on foods. I am aware you have to subtract fiber from carb to get net carb. I just assumed if you looked at the label the correct nutritional info would be there and you could determine the correct amt of carbs per serving by jus subtracting the fiber from the carbs.
But I’m hearing about hidden carbs unless the nutritional label is incorrect.
For argument sake: Roasted Seaweed … LOL I know….
Ing: seaweed, olive and sesame oil and salt… Simple
1 pkg = 5g
Cal 30
Fat 2
Carbs 1 g
Fiber 1 g

I would total that as 0 carbs
But with the Hidden Carb calculator on Linda’s Low carb site the carb count is 2 g????!!!!!

How can that be!!

Those calories have to come from somewhere. And that label doesn't add up.

[Liz53]

Those calories have to come from somewhere. And that label doesn't add up.

Protein was not listed, so perhaps it has 2 g protein? I never buy it so I don't know.

[s-piper]

Okay, well on a similar package it says that 20 calories come from fat, so if you use the 9 calories per gram of fat estimate, it looks like they rounded that measure down.
So 20 calories from fat/9 calories per gram fat = 2.2g fat

So that leaves 10 calories to be divided between 1 gram of carb and 1 gram of protein. So there's two calories unaccounted for, lets assume they come from carbs not protein.
10 calories - 4 calories in 1 gram protein = 6 calories
6 calories/4 calories per gram carb = 1.5 grams carb.

So yeah there are some hidden carbs in there, and some hidden fat.

It looks, though, like it's kind of arbitrary. It comes from a matter of how precise a number they have to report.
They can round 2.2 and 1.5 down to 2 and 1.

EDIT:
I checked out the hidden carbs calculator in Linda's Low Carb, with that one it assumes that any discrepancy in calories comes from carbs not fat nor protein.
With my calculations I took the part on the label where it says "calories from fat" into account.
Linda's, however, did their calculations this way:
30 total calories - (9 calories per gram fat x 2 grams fat)= 12 calories
12 calories - 4 calories in 1 gram protein = 8 calories
8 calories/4 calories per gram carb = 2 grams carb.

Keep in mind, though, that neither method is 100% accurate.