Hidden Carbs?

[Anonymous]

My box of powdered (flaked) bran reads:

4 Tablespoons (20g)
cal 36
proteines 3.2
carbs 3.77
fats .94
fiber 9.5

My husband thinks I should be adding this to all my baking to increase the total fiber counts and thus reducing the total carb counts since when counting carbs you subtract the fiber.

We usually say that if it's too good to be true it probably isn't. So there must be some hidden carbs here somewhere. Can someone help?

I'm not sure this product exist in the US and in France it is used to enhance the fiber content of your diet by sprinkling it on salad or soups or even in yogurts or fruit juice.

[Lulu M]

We do have bran in various forms here in the US. Now, there's something strange about the numbers on your box, because fiber is one component of total carbohydrates, so you can't have more fiber than total carbs, any more than you could have 1 cup of vinaigrette, say, that contained 2 cups of oil.

I think the explanation may be that the carb count on your label shows total carbs minus fiber--in other words, what Atkins calls net carbs. In the US nutritional data isn't given this way, but it may be in France. To check it out I went to FitDay, and here are the numbers given for 1/4 cup unprocessed wheat bran:

Calories 31.32
Total Fat 0.616g
Total Carbohydrate 9.35g
Dietary Fiber 6.21g
Protein 2.25g

Those numbers are fairly consistent with yours and would give a net carb amount of 3.14g, pretty close to your 3.77g carb reading. So my guess is that that's the explanation.

But please explain to your husband that adding bran to your baked goods isn't going to remove carbs that are already there. Nothing can do that. ;-) All it can do is increase the fiber content and thus proportionately decrease the amount of carbs per serving. But all the carbs that were in the recipe to begin with will still be there.

Lulu

[NulloModo]

It seems in a lot of Euro nations the carbs are broken down differently than in the US, so you have 3.+ grams of net carbs, although that still isn't too bad depending on what the serving size is. Whole grains such as oat brans are allowed on the final rung of OWL.

[Lulu M]

You can have coarse wheat bran on induction, according to DANDR and atkins.com: "You can also use coarse wheat bran or flaxseed meal. Although it’s derived from grain, coarse bran is pure fiber so it doesn’t add to your carb count."

How coarse bran (pure fiber, according to the above) is distinguished from the unprocessed or powdered stuff (tons o' fiber but still some metabolized carbs) is something I don't know.

Lulu

[Anonymous]

Thanks Lulu,

Thats what I mean. I can use it as filler. Stretch out the carbs so in a way reducing the carb count. And with the filler I can get added serving size so the carb per serving is less.


Take one bar of chocolate at 35 carb for 100 grams. Melt it down and mix in a couple tablespoons of bran. The added fiber can be substrated from the total carbs.

Am I really that way off? It seems logical to me.

[daniela]

bran

my nutritionist said that humans can´t break down bran, so it just passes through your body, no cals no fat, no carbs, no protein no nothing....
But if you are a bird you should worry...

Daniela