The basics of eating healthy sound easy enough: Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, drink enough water, and get a good balance of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates.
But figuring out exactly what that balance should be can be confusing, especially when it comes to carbs. That’s why some people track their “net carbs” as well as their total carbs.
Tracking macronutrients (macros) is a useful way to analyze your daily food choices. Macros—which include fats, proteins, and carbohydrates—provide the fuel your body needs for all physical activities, including automatic functions like digestion and immune responses.
You can take your macro tracking to the next level by looking at your total carb intake, then figuring out your net carbs. Here’s what you need to know about what net carbs are, how to calculate them, and why you might want to.
Understanding Net Carbs
Net carbs is a term that refers to the total amount of fully digestible carbohydrates a particular food contains. It’s the total number of grams of carbohydrates minus the grams of fiber and half the amount of sugar alcohols.
Fiber and sugar alcohols are both types of carbohydrates. Neither affects blood sugar the same way other types of carbs do, so people managing blood sugar may find it useful to have a more detailed log of carbs, fibers, and sugar alcohols to compare to blood sugar measures.
In addition, fiber can be very helpful to track to see if different levels of fiber consumption affect appetite, satiety, and weight loss efforts. Especially because fiber intake is low for most Americans and it’s an important nutrient for our health and, according to a recent study, longevity.
Tracking total carbohydrate intake refers to measuring all types of carbohydrates you consume in a day. When you’re looking at the nutrition page in MyFitnessPal, you’ll see that it tracks total carbs in food. You can use that measurement as the starting point for figuring out your net carbs.
How your body digests different types of carbs
Carbohydrates are converted to sugars, which enter the bloodstream to provide quick energy that your body can use immediately.
However, there are different types of carbohydrates and they don’t all break down the same way.
Foods that are high in simple sugars and simple carbs—such as soda, candy, or sweet baked goods—can be digested very quickly. The sugars from those foods enter your bloodstream rapidly and cause a sharper spike in your blood sugar.
Complex carbohydrates, such as vegetables, fruits, and whole grains take longer to break down and often contain fiber. Fiber is a carbohydrate but it isn’t fully broken down during digestion, instead aiding the intestine in removing waste as bowel movements.
Complex carbs release sugar into the bloodstream more slowly. Similarly, food sweetened with sugar alcohols instead of simple sugars don’t spike blood sugar the way regular sugar does.
Insoluble and soluble fiber carbs
Tracking net carbs will tell you how much fiber you’re eating—and if you’re getting enough. Fiber-rich diets have been associated with better health and helps with weight control. The problem is, most Americans don’t get the daily recommended amounts of dietary fiber.
Dietary fiber is a type of carbohydrate, but it isn’t used as fuel. Fiber resists digestion, so it passes through the body and is eventually excreted.
There are two types of fiber: soluble and insoluble, though you won’t see these listed separately on nutrition labels. The “dietary fiber” entry on the nutrition labels for foods includes both soluble and insoluble fiber.
Insoluble fiber isn’t absorbed or broken down. It helps remove waste from the intestinal tract and prevents constipation. Soluble fiber is also not absorbed. Instead, it dissolves and forms a gummy substance. The dissolved fiber slows glucose absorption, and helps control blood sugar.
When calculating your net carbs, you subtract the total dietary fiber number from your total grams of carbohydrates.
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Sugar alcohol carbs
Sugar alcohol is a sweetener used in a variety of foods. Food manufacturers are not typically required to list them on the nutrition facts label but sometimes do. If it’s not listed you can look at the ingredients list. It’s essentially a flavoring with half the calories of sugar.
Despite its name, sugar alcohol isn’t sugar or alcohol. It’s actually a type of carbohydrate.
Commonly ending in “-ol” (a good indicator it is a sugar alcohol), some sugar alcohols include:
- Xylitol
- Erythritol
- Sorbitol
- Maltitol
Sugar alcohols are different from artificial sweeteners, like saccharin or aspartame, which are entirely synthetic. They’re as sweet or less sweet than regular sugar and lower in calories.
Sugar alcohols are generally considered safe to eat, but having too much of them (more than 15 grams per day) can cause digestive discomfort. Because they don’t break down in the gut, sugar alcohol can ferment and lead to gas, bloating, and diarrhea.
If you regularly eat too much sugar alcohol, there may be health risks.
In 2023, one study found that consuming the sugar alcohol erythritol is associated with a higher risk of blood clots and heart problems. Animal studies published in 2023 suggested a possible link between erythritol and liver cancer in mice and humans.
As a general rule, it’s safe to eat about 10 to 15 grams of sugar alcohol per day. A registered dietitian can help you decide what the safest amount is for you.
How to calculate net carbs
Figuring out net carbs isn’t complicated. You can find your net carbs number by finding the fiber and sugar alcohol amounts on nutrition labels, then subtracting those two numbers from the total carbohydrates number on the label.
The ADA cautions that you can’t be completely sure what effects fiber carbohydrate and sugar alcohols will have on your blood sugar unless you know exactly what types in the food you’re eating.
If you have diabetes or prediabetes, ask your doctor whether you should be counting net carbs, tracking carbs and fiber separately, or relying on total carb counts.
How Many Net Carbs a Day Is OK?
There aren’t credible recommendations for net carb intake. It’s considered a marketing term, not a scientific term. Only commercial entities like Atkins and Diet Doctor make these recommendations.
The FDA doesn’t recognize net carbs as a measure, nor does the American Diabetes Association.
If you’re working with a dietitian or doctor, they can tell you the best way to calculate your daily carbs and net carbs, as well as which foods, macro balance, and portion sizes are best for your health needs.
The Bottom Line
Tracking macros and looking at your daily fiber consumption may be a helpful tool for weight loss or achieving your fitness goals. And boosting your fiber can improve your health in more ways than one.
MyFitnessPal shows you your carb intake as well as your fiber intake, so you can easily calculate how many grams of total carbs and grams of fiber you’re eating.
Start tracking total carbs, net carbs, and macros with the MyFitnessPal app today!
Originally Uploaded 12/27/2016 | Updated 7/29/2024