in macro percentages pie chart, I'd like the option to not count fiber towards carb %

qqqsimmons

Currently it looks like the pie chart is determined by total carbs. I'd rather have it determined by net carbs? could this be made into an option or something?

Karen_Cronometer

Hi qqqsimmons,

That's right - the Calorie Breakdown pie chart shows the percentage of calories from the energy-yielding nutrients: carbs, protein, fat and alcohol. Fibre contains fewer calories than starches and sugars, they do contribute some energy so removing them would not be as accurate.

Best,

mickey

Seems to me that removing them would be more accurate than what is happening where fiber is counted as 4 calories/gram. This is throwing off the percentages and making fat and protein seem lower than they actually are.

Karen_Cronometer

HI Mickey,

The FDA suggests fibres fermented by gut bacteria provides about 2 kcal/g. We use this factor in calculating the energy from carbohydrates, when possible. This would only apply to fermentable fibres, though. Insoluble fibers pass through relatively intact and do not contribute any calories. At the moment, we do not have the data to differentiate fibre types in all the foods in our database, so a case could be made to make a change. We aim to provide as much detail as we can and would love to include this in the future, to remove the relatively small differences in energy coming from fibre in your diet. Also note, we also use more specific energy factors for other types of carbohydrates, where we have the information available, including starch and different types of sugars.

Some manufacturers may not take fibre into account when calculating the energy content of brand name foods, so you may notice a larger difference in the energy value on product labels.

Thanks very much for your input!

Best,

mickey

Yea and some carbs have fewer calories too like resistant starch. My graph just seems to be doing something closer to 4 kcal/gram but I'm not sure what it is : https://imgur.com/a/467hDVf
312.2 grams total carbs, 85.5 fiber, 226.7 net
312.24 = 1248.8
226.74 = 906.8
226.74+85.52 = 1077.8

Anyway, this is a minor confusion and thanks very much for the app overall.

Karen_Cronometer

Hi Mickey,

It will depend on the particular foods you have in your diary, and what types of carbohydrates are in those foods. Also whether you are using foods from NCCDB and USDA or brand name products in your diary.

Cheers,

TheRegents

Technically alcohol is not a nutrient (although it's energy-yielding) :P~~~