What does "Carbohydrate, by difference" mean?

[RCFletcher]

Hi everyone,

I treated myuself to some brazil nuts today and before eating them I looked them up.

It said " Carbohydrate, by difference 12.8g" (per 100g)
and Fiber, "total dietary 5.4g"

This was on an American site by the way.

Now does this mean I can take the fibre away from the carbs or not? Does the "by diffrerence" mean they've already done the sum as we do in England?

I would appreciate enlightenment :)

Robert :wave:

[doreen T]

hiya Robert,

Actually, "carbohydrate, by difference" refers to the fact that the carb content of a food is calculated as the difference between the total weight of the food, minus protein, fat and water. Those other nutrients are measured directly by standardized methods. Carbohydrate is the only value that's calculated rather than directly measured.

It's hard to say about subtracting the fiber grams. More and more manufacturers on this side of the pond are pre-subtracting the fiber. It's just not "law" yet, so it's quite inconsistent. I did check with our Carb Counter (clink on the Quick Link in the right-hand column) ... and it also lists 12.8g carb and 5.4g fiber. So .. in this case you would subtract the fiber to get a net carb count of 7.4g per 100g nuts.

hth,

Doreen

[RCFletcher]

Thanks Doreen :)

Yes, it was the last bit I wanted to know. I still don't really understand the 'by difference' thing but what I need at the end of the day is of course, how many carbs should I count into my diet.

I promptly ate all 100g of the nuts I bought so it looks like at 7.4g that's not too much.

Thanks again,

Robert

:wave: