Food Vs Supplement Labels

Supplements are highly unregulated and allowed to have claims listed. These claims may be poorly tested, so make sure to do your research before purchasing supplements to make sure all claims are made with legitimate, scientific substantiation. Food labels, on the other hand, are not allowed to list claims for ingredients. 

What Do Badges/Icons Mean?

Many badges on products have little meaning outside of marketing value. Most “keto” certifications are unsubstantiated, with poor regulation, so it is super important to take these labels with a grain of salt. The only certification that has a governing body that conducts laboratory settings on these products is our Ketogenic Certified program.

How To Read A Nutrition Fact Panel

1. Always start by looking at the serving size and how many servings there are per container. In order to decrease calorie or carb count, a lot of products will have multiple servings in even small packages. You could be accidentally consuming double the amount of carbs you thought you were because a product has two servings instead of just one.
2. Calories are the next area below that and list our how many calories per serving are within the product.
3. Total fat is listed next, with unsaturated fat and trans fat being highlighted below that on some labels. Since fat is 9 calories/g you can determine what percentage the calories are from fat. For example, if a 250 calories cookie has 17g of fat, that means 61.2% of the calories are from fat [(17*9)/250].
4. Cholesterol and sodium are typically listed under the fat.
5. Carbohydrates are listed next and are the trickiest of all of the macronutrients. You may also see fiber, sugar alcohols, and specific sweeteners listed out by gram underneath the carbohydrate section. In order to calculate net carbs, look at the ingredient panel first. If you see legitimate fiber sources (like soluble corn fiber), sugar alcohols (like erythritol), or sweeteners (like allulose, monk fruit, or stevia), you can subtract those from the total carb count. Glucose-spiking ingredients like IMO (isomalto-oligosaccharides), sugar alcohols like maltitol and sorbitol, or sweeteners like dextrose, maltodextrin can not be subtracted. 
6. The total protein content is listed under carbohydrates. 

Calculating Net Carbs

Net carbs = total carbohydrates – legitimate fibers – legitimate sugar alcohols – legitimate sweeteners. So, what are legitimate fibers? Soluble corn fiber is considered a legitimate fiber; however, IMO is not. IMO can be tricky; however, because IMO may be listed as soluble tapioca fiber. Soluble tapioca fiber that is a resistant dextrin is a legitimate fiber; however, IMO is not. If a product has soluble tapioca fiber in it and you are not sure whether it is IMO or a digestion-resistant dextrin (and it is not Ketogenic Certified), we’d recommend reaching out and asking to be sure. If it is IMO, stay away from the product. 

Erythritol is a legitimate sugar alcohol, maltitol and sorbitol are not. Erythritol can be subtracted out, but maltitol and/or sorbitol can not be subtracted.

Allulose, monk fruit, and stevia are all legitimate sweeteners that may also be listed and can be subtracted from the total carbohydrates. Allulose is a natural, rare sugar that does not have a metabolic impact.