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| What is PECC and why does not always subtract fiber? |
PECC stands for Possible Effective Carb Count.
With the recent popularity of low-carb diets, many manufacturers have started subtracting fiber from the carb count. Label regulations in many countries allow this subtraction.
As some low-carb plan instruct followers that they may subtract the fiber count from the total carb count, this, this was called (Effective Carb Count).
However, since the food labels now have started subtracting the fiber from the total carb count, some low-carb dieters may not be aware of this, and would still re-subtract the fiber from the already reduce carb count.
Example: A manufacturer may list an item as having 10 grams of carbohydrates and 9 grams of fiber.
The dieter may assume that this item has an effective carb count of 1 gram.
But this is incorrect, since the manufacturer has already subtracted the fiber.
The food item actually had 19 grams of carbohydrates.
How do we know if the manufacturer has already subtracted the fiber?
By calculating the coloric composition of the food item.
The label in the above example would have stated 40 calories from 10 grams of carbs. Since 1 gram of carbs contains about 4 calories, this indicates that the fiber has alreay been subtracted (since the 40 calories account for 10 grams of carbs).
Had the label stated 19 grams of carbs, you would expect 76 calories. But since the label stated 40 calories, this confirms the fiber has already been subtracted.
The My P.L.A.N. tool displays the ECC as PECC to make it clear that this is a calculated value based on the label information.
Why show this value?
By default, the My P.L.A.N. tool does not display the PECC value. You can turn it on from your "Edit Settings" page from inside My P.L.A.N.
More details explanation of PECC values:
1. For custom items, you can enter your own PECC value. This should help resolve issued where members want to use their own determined ECC, or manufactuerer's claimed ECC/net carb, etc.
2. PECC for USDA entries
The USDA database contains a mixture of data entries. Some are based on a manufacturer's label, and some are based on analytical data, and some from a mixture of both.
The documentation of the USDA-SR17 data makes the following points:
1. Carbs by difference includes dietary fiber. Howeber, this only applies to data from analysis. Manufacturer's labels my subtract the fiber from the carb count
2. Data from manufacturer can follow any of the follwoing 9-4-4 formuals:
A Calories = (Carbs x 4) + (Protein x 4) + (Fat x 9)
B. Calories = (Carbs-Fiber x 4) + (Protein x 4) + (Fat x 9)
No indication is given as to which method was used to arrive at the data provided in the database.
For the above reasons, My P.L.A.N. will only subtract the fiber if it's known for sure that the fiber has not yet been subtracted.
The method that will be implemented shortly is as follows:
If the food item was based on analytical data, and has provided the nitorgen and CHO factors required to calculate the calories, then, and only then, the PECC value will subtract the fiber from the carb count.
This implementation will miss items that may have not subtracted the fiber from the carb count. However, since we have no way of knowing this, it will be misleading to members to subtract the fiber, when there is no indication that it has not yet been subtracted.
This will provided the safest guess, as opposed to always subtracting. There are several items that may result in zero, or even negative carb count, if we just subtract without considering all the possibilities.
But for those of you who don't want to deal with ECC/PECC/Net carbs etc, the default option is to just show fiber. But you need to know that many items have the fiber subtracted, and you should not assume that you can always subtract them.
Finally, we will still investigate if there is any way to further refine the process, and narrow down which is which, and we'll contact the USDA to find out if there are any other indicatos to use to find out when fiber was, or was not, subtracted. Will keep you updated.
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| Custom serving unit conversion |
Some quick weight conversion tips:
1 Ounce (oz) equals 28 grams
1 pound (lb) equals 454 grams
1 kilograms (kg) equals 1000 grams
Some quick liquid conversion tips:
Based on the consistency of water, 237 grams a cup:
1 Cup (8 fl oz) equals 237 grams
1 teaspoon (tsp) equals 4.9 grams
1 tablespoon (tbsp) equals 14.8 grams
1 fluid ounce (fl oz) equals 29.6 grams
1 liter equals 1001.7 grams
Based on the consistency of creamy soups, 250 grams a cup:
1 Cup (8 fl oz) equals 250 grams
1 teaspoon (tsp) equals 5.2 grams
1 tablespoon (tbsp) equals 15.6 grams
1 fluid ounce (fl oz) equals 31.2 grams
1 liter equals 1056.6 grams
At the consistency of shakes and frapped/whipped liquids:
1 Cup (8 fl oz) equals 166 grams
1 teaspoon (tsp) equals 3.5 grams
1 tablespoon (tbsp) equals 10.4 grams
1 fluid ounce (fl oz) equals 20.8 grams
1 liter equals 701.6 grams
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