RichD wrote:
>
> I see granola energy bars, bearing the notice: "only 2
> grams net carbohydrates"
>
> What does that mean?

There was a large thread discussing fiber, so here I will
address other caloric chemicals.

One of the meanings is the company has a financial
incentive to report the lowest possible count that does
not get them hauled before the Federal Trade Commission
for false advertising. it is important to read the list
of ingredients and see if any of them are "hidden carbs"
that should be counted but are not. Also check for what
lawyers call "weasel words" on the label that explain
away invalid deductions. If the label says that some
ingredient was deducted because it does not cause blood
sugar spikes, that's a coded phrase that tells you the
label deducted slow carbs because they are slow, not
because they are not carbs that deliver glucose to our
bodies.

One ingredient that used to be common in bars was glycerine.
In the body glycerine gets converted at near 100% efficiency
to glycerol. Glycerol is a part of fat metabolism that
delivers glucose to the blood stream. Glycerol is converted
at near 100% efficiency to glucose. The trick is the
process that converts glycerine to glucose is slow, so the
grams don't get counted. If you need an honest count that
includes slow carbs you can't deduct glycerine for the same
reason you can't count broccoli at zero.

Another ingredient is the class of sugar alcohols. Different
people absorb the various sugar alcohols at different
inefficiencies. Worse, you might not absorb one type but you
do absorb another type. Figuring out how well you absorb
sugar alcohols as carbs is not easy.

There is simple way to figure out if you failed to absorb
sugar alcohols in a food. If that food gives you loose
stools, that means you did not digest the sugar alcohol. If
that food does not effect your digestion, you definitely
absorbed most of its calories. Figuring out if sugar alcohols
are absorbed as carbs is not easy.

So look carefully at the label remembering that the company's
motivation is to get you to purchase the product not to be
honest on its label. Are there disclaimers aka weasel words?
If the fiber grams are listed does the calorie arithmetic
work out that nothing else was deducted? Do sugar alcohol
give you the runs?

I deduct fiber from my daily count. I long ago stopped
believing the rest of the claims on the labels.

Certain low carb products never did contain the types of
chemicals that need disclaimers. Almost every low carb
shake I've ever seen had ingredients that did not call to
me to increase the carb count from the label. I've never
seen an Atkins branded shake have an issue and other brands
seem to catch on that it's not difficult to formulate a
product with an honestly low carb count.

Low carb bars have varied widely over the years and across
the brands whether their net carb claims are honest. It
takes knowing what to look for.