Hello, this is Monica Reinagel, and you're listening to the nutrition devo's quick and dirty tips for eating well and feeling fabulous.

My friend Debbie writes,

Can you talk about the concept of net carbs?

I see this listed on the front of the package for some foods.

It seems to be the total carbs minus the fiber.

Is there any benefit to thinking of carbs this way?

It seems like it could be confusing for type 1 diabetics who are instructed to

dose their insulin based on total meal carbs. This is a great topic for us to

explore and the first thing you need to know about net carbs, which are also

known as effective carbs or impact carbs, is that these are completely unregulated terms.

There are no established or enforced standards for how this

number is calculated. Now US regulators have allowed these terms to be used on the

front of packages but not on nutrition fax labels.

But Canadian authorities have prohibited manufacturers from including these terms anywhere

on their package labeling on the grounds that there is no scientific consensus on their definition

and they might be used to mislead consumers.

Net carbs are typically calculated by subtracting the fiber and any sugar alcohols from the amount of total carbs in a food.

And the idea here is to distinguish between sugar and starches, carbohydrates which have about four calories per gram,

and cause your blood sugar to rise when you eat them,

and other types of carbohydrates which are much lower in calories and have less of an impact on your blood sugar.

Fiber of course is found in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and seeds.

And although fiber is technically considered a carbohydrate,

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