Carbohydrate
- The figure for total carbohydrate includes the carbohydrate from starchy foods such as bread, potatoes and chapatis; fruit; some dairy products; sugar and other sweet foods. Some drinks also contain carbohydrate.
- About half of what you eat and drink should come from carbohydrate. For good health most of this should be from starchy carbohydrate, fruit and some dairy foods, with no more than one fifth from added sugar or table sugar.
- Carbohydrate (of which sugars) tells you how much sugar the food or drink contains and includes both added sugar and natural sugar (eg fruit sugar known as fructose and milk sugar known as lactose).
- Added sugars include sugars such as sucrose, glucose, glucose syrup, invert syrup, maltose and honey.
- All carbohydrate increases your blood glucose levels.
- To see if the product is high in added sugar, look at the ingredients list which always starts with the largest ingredient first.
- If counting carbohydrate, the amount you should count is the ‘total carbohydrate’ rather than the ‘of which sugars’.
- Intense (artificial) low-calorie sweeteners can be a useful alternative to sugar.
