I sent an e-mail to the atkins center today with questions concernong hidden carbs and the reason why they talk about net carbs. I wanted to know about the hidden catbs in there bars of course, and this is what they said. They said there bars have 19 total carbs in them with 15.5 coming from the soy in the nouggat and the cocoa. it was 19 with the FDA. The 19 minus the 15.5 gives 3.5 that is ok. The 3.5 is the net carbs and the other matters less. The other carbs, hidden, dont not affect and go thru the bloodstream, they tend to be digested thru as waste. Am I making any sense, bcause I dont think this makes sense. They also said to take the carb grams listed on a label and subtract them from the dietary fiber grams to give you an accurate count of carbs. Does this mean that the hidden carbs lets say in the carbolite bars are the gross carbs and matter less? I am so confused about all of this stuff. Sabrina

Hi Sabrina,

Would it be possible to quote what they said in their own words? This may help figuring out what they're trying to sat.

Wa'il

Hi tamarian, I dont know how to quote on this aoltv. If you could help me I will gladly do it. I dont know how to do much of anything except get online and type. If you dont know how on this aoltv I will go back and write it down word for word and type it to ya. Someone told me also to check out the link atkins on carbs, but I dont know how to do that either. Pretty smart aren't I? Well if you could help I would appreciate it. sabrina

I think what the Atkins Center was trying to tell you is that 15.5 grams came from the sugar alcohols and 3.5 came from the soy and cocoa. The current Atkins net carbs party-line says that sugar alcohols and glycerine are not used by your body as carbs and do not cause insulin spikes. Not true for everyone. So either you can experiment with yourself and see what happens or avoid them.

Karen

So does that mean that most of your hidden carbs in foods come from these sugar alcohols and glycerin?

Yes. It comes from manufacturers not declaring these substances as carbs. They're not protein, they're not fat and they're not alcohol. So, what are they?

At the top of the page in the orange bar, there is a great article in the tips section on sugar alcohols.

Karen