Quasi-food question: When reading the nutritional label of a food...

M

marilynfl

Moderator
should the weight in grams of the item be equal to the total of the FAT, CARBS, and PROTEIN grams shown?

Cause I'm not seeing that. It only adds up if I sum the Fat + Carbs + Sugars + Fiber + Protein.

Yet, the sugars and fibers fall under the carbohydrates heading. So, to me... the number of Carb grams should already include both of those.

I'm so confused. I'm trying to reverse-engineer a recipe from the nutrional information and the ingredient list.

**********

One other thought I had: Is it possible that water contributes to the total weight of the product? Since they don't have to list that ingredient and since it has no nutritional information, it could be the difference I'm seeing.

See examples at link and images: Rolled oats serving is 28 grams. Yet the fats, carbs and protein only add up to 26 grams.

Whole wheat flour is 120 grams. Yet the 3 only add up to 105.

http://www.thedailyplate.com/nutrition-calories/food/bobs-red-mill/instant-rolled-oats

http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/cereal-grains-and-pasta/5744/2

 
But that doesn't seem to work for the missing 15 grams in the wholewheat example (image).

I'm trying to use proportions and thought this idea would be a cakewalk, but this has me totally confused. And I can't even find a website that easily explains this topic.

 
I see. The instant oats worked by not the flour. It's a conspiracy...

we need to call Scully and Mulder. But not the Cigarette Smoking Man.

 
Geez louise...the answer is right there in front of me. Thanks to charley and Dawn for

pointing out that nutritional information comes from analyzing the food. If you look at the IMAGE link and scroll all the way to the bottom (which I hadn't done) you'll see another category called OTHER.

Under OTHER, they include the grams of water and residue ash (from burning the food to determine how many calories it consumes). In this case, the water is 12.3 grams and the ash is 1.9 grams, which totals to 14.2 grams...close enough to the missing 15 grams that I'll good.

Now I know to add a % of water and clean out the fireplace first before attempting to duplicate the recipe.

 
This actually came up in a business situation I had a couple of years ago.

A buyer noticed the grams didn't add up to the total weight listed on the can.

We talked with someone at the FDA and they reminded us that once you get to the tare weight (the weight of the product itself, minus packaging and *added* water) you still have water in the product itself that has no nutritional content. It doesn't have to be listed on the label.

Michael

 
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