Packet of crackers, sugars line reads 0.4g per serving, carbohydrate line reads 22g. I assumed carbohydrate and sugar were more or less the same thing so I do not understand where the other 21g is coming from. Same thing on a protein bar I bought where the numbers do not add up at all.
Carbohydrate is the whole family, sugars are one member of it. In a cracker the other 21g is almost entirely starch, which is a long chain of glucose units that simply is not classed as sugar on a label. Nothing is being hidden from you.
The protein bar is a different situation. Those usually carry sugar alcohols such as maltitol or erythritol and sometimes a lot of fibre, and depending on the labelling rules where you live those may or may not be included in the carbohydrate figure, which is why the lines look like they do not add up.
One more trap worth knowing: no added sugar means none was added, not that there is none present. Fruit purees in a bar can be a substantial amount of sugar with that claim on the front.
Starch not counting as sugar is embarrassingly obvious now that you say it. Bread has been confusing me for months.
Everyone hits this once. The label is answering a narrower question than the one people are asking.
Also check whether your label is the kind that includes fibre in the carbohydrate total, because the two main labelling conventions differ on this. If your app expects one convention and your packet uses the other, your logged carbohydrate can be off by several grams per serving on high fibre foods. It matters for people counting carbohydrates closely and barely matters for everyone else.
This is why the same cereal can appear twice in an app with different numbers and both entries are technically correct.
And if the sugar alcohols in that protein bar are maltitol, be a little cautious with quantity the first time. My own experience with eating two in an afternoon was educational and I would not repeat it at work.
Noted with alarm. One bar it is.
@psu_paula · 9mo ago
Always read the per 100g column rather than per serving. Serving sizes are chosen by the manufacturer and a serving of crackers is frequently four crackers, which nobody eats. Per 100g is the only figure you can compare between products.
Reply
Report