Title of page

Switzerland

Denmark

Finland

USDA data bank

Take a look at these data to see what kind of information is included with respect to carbohydrates and fibre. Click on the links below to open the whole data sheet!

Danish Food Composition databank

Apple, raw, all varieties

Schweizer Nahrwertdatenbank (Switzerland)

Apfel, frisch

USDA data bank

Apples, raw, with skin (1)

Finnish Food Composition Database

Apple, average, with skin

Welcome to the case ‘carbohydrates and fibre’. Here you see food composition data from different foods taken from food composition databases from different countries. Take a look at these data to see what kind of information is included with respect to carbohydrates and fibre.

Note the following striking differences:

1. Some databases only include ‘total carbohydrate’ values, others also distinguish ‘total available carbohydrates’.* Some databases use the term ‘carbohydrates by difference’.

2. Most databases include separate values for dietary fibre. Some database also mention the method that is used to calculate fibre values (e.g. the Danish database). Some databases distinguish also water insoluble fibre (e.g. Finnish database).

3. There is a large variety with respect to the individual mentioned carbohydrates (e.g. starch, sugars, sucrose, lactose, fructose, glucose, etc.).

* For ‘total carbohydrates’ , different definitions are in use. Most databases include fibre values in total carbohydrates values, others (like the former Australian database) only include available carbohydrates (thus excluding fibre) in ‘total carbohydrate’ value. Based on recent insights, the FAO recommend to use ‘glycaemic carbohydrates’ instead of ‘available carbohydrates’. In this case you will learn more about these inconsistencies and the preferred terms.