Label reading for carbohydrate counting

If you are managing your diabetes on an insulin pump or using a basal-bolus insulin regime (multiple injections with an insulin pen), you will benefit by counting your carbohydrate intake more accurately.

Your bolus insulin or quick acting dose will be estimated according to the amount of carbohydrate you eat. Incorrect estimation of carbohydrates may result in too large or too small insulin doses which can lead to hyperglycemia (too high) or hypoglycemia (too low).

The amount of insulin required to cover a given amount of carbohydrate-containing foods is called the ‘insulin to carbohydrate ratio’. Your diabetes educator will calculate your ‘insulin to carbohydrate ratio’ and show you how to program this into your insulin pump.  This ratio can be used as a guide to determine the insulin dose that should be given for the quantity of carbohydrate you are about to eat.

There are several ways in which you can estimate the amount of carbohydrate that you are eating:

• Reading the nutrition information panel of a packaged food
• Weighing and measuring carbohydrate-containing foods
• Using a carbohydrate counter
• Estimating the number of serves that you are eating
  • Assuming that 1 serve is equivalent to 15g carbohydrate.

The nutrition information panel on food labels is usually the most accurate way get the information about carbohydrate quantity of packaged foods.  For example:

• Always look at the ‘total carbohydrate’, not sugars when carbohydrate counting. It is the total amount of carbohydrate (starches + sugar) consumed that will affect blood glucose levels, not just the sugar alone.
• According to the nutrition information label, the suggested serving size of the packet is 30g or three biscuits. If you eat three biscuits (the suggested serving size), you will be consuming 22.1g (or 22g) of carbohydrate.
• If you are having a different quantity to the suggested serving size, you will need to calculate the carbohydrate in the amount that you are eating. For example, if you eat six biscuits, you will need to double the amount of carbohydrate i.e. 44.2g (or 44g) carbohydrate.
• If you eat less than the recommended serving size i.e. one biscuit, you will need to divide the total carbohydrate (22.1g) of the suggested serving size by the number of biscuits in the suggested serving size (three biscuits)  i.e. 22.1g / 3 = 7.3g (or 7g) per biscuit.