Our son has type 1 diabetes, and one of our biggest issues is with eating. In an attempt to find low carb yet something with “bulk” to help fill him up for a snack, we have come across labels with total carbohydrates as well as impact carbohydrates. The numbers are always different on the labels. Are the impact carbs included in the total carb count? How do impact carbs impact blood sugar numbers? What are the benefits or downfalls of impact carbs?

“Impact carbs” is a new term that is being used by various low carb or no carb food manufacturers to sell more of their product. I would recommend that a person with diabetes figure out “impact carbs” a little bit differently than what is being promoted by these food manufacturers. I recommend that you can subtract 100% of the dietary fiber content from the total carbohydrates if fiber is 5 or more grams per serving and you may also subtract 50% of the sugar alcohols from the total carbohydrate. For example, if a food consists of 24 grams of total carb, with 6 grams of fiber and 6 grams of sugar alcohols, you may subtract all 6 grams of fiber and 3 grams of sugar alcohols from the total carb resulting in 15 grams of “impact carbs”.

JMS