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#1
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How many carbs in vitamins and supplements?
I have been an Atkins-type for 6 years. Works well, lost 35 lbs, and
kept it off. Daily carb count is around 60, but I never counted what is in CoQ-10, Saw Palmetto, Hawthorne, Acidophilus, L-carnitine, Fish oil, and so forth. I also take a multiple aimed at the +50 yr-old crowd. How many carbs are in supplements like these? Thanks for any info, Mel |
#2
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How many carbs in vitamins and supplements?
Mel writes: I have been an Atkins-type for 6 years. Works well, lost 35 lbs, and kept it off. Daily carb count is around 60, but I never counted what is in CoQ-10, Saw Palmetto, Hawthorne, Acidophilus, L-carnitine, Fish oil, and so forth. I also take a multiple aimed at the +50 yr-old crowd. How many carbs are in supplements like these? Vitamins and minerals are too important to justify any excuse not to take them. For our purposes, assume they have zero net carbs. Take your vitamins! :-) Besides, if you're on Atkins, the *actual* number of carbs you eat is irrelevent - what's important is finding a *relative* level that works for you. If you've been having success with the carb level you *think* you have now, just keep it up and don't worry about whether your counts are accurate. I.e. If "I've been counting carbs this way, and at X carbs I'm ok and at X+5 carbs I gain weight" - then keep counting that way and stay at X carbs. If you suddenly discover some "hidden" carbs you've been eating all along, that doesn't change what you need to do - it just changes what X means. |
#3
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How many carbs in vitamins and supplements?
In article
, Mel wrote: I have been an Atkins-type for 6 years. Works well, lost 35 lbs, and kept it off. Daily carb count is around 60, but I never counted what is in CoQ-10, Saw Palmetto, Hawthorne, Acidophilus, L-carnitine, Fish oil, and so forth. I also take a multiple aimed at the +50 yr-old crowd. How many carbs are in supplements like these? Thanks for any info, Mel First you would have to identify any fillers, coatings, and type of caps used in the supplements that you take (some companies claim no fillers). Then,look up the chemical formula for the ingredients, e.g. L-carnitine: C18H36N2O12 -- C18 H36 N2 O12 as you can see, it has 18 carbon, 36 hydrogen, 2 nitrogen, and 12 oxygen. Since the hydrogen and oxygen are in a 3 to 1 ratio, I would call this a carbo(carbon)hydrate(water). Fish oil will be a fat (CxHx, little or no oxygen). Acidophilus bacteria would be mostly protein (but the milk that they are in will have the calories of milk). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acidophilus Use the general rule for these substances. 1 gram carbohydrate = 4 kCal 1 gram of protein = 4 kCal 1 gram of fats or oil = 9 kCal -- ³When you give food to the poor, they call you a saint. When you ask why the poor have no food, they call you a communist.² -Archbishop Helder Camara http://tinyurl.com/o63ruj http://countercurrents.org/roberts020709.htm |
#4
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How many carbs in vitamins and supplements?
Billy wrote:
In article , Mel wrote: I have been an Atkins-type for 6 years. Works well, lost 35 lbs, and kept it off. Daily carb count is around 60, but I never counted what is in CoQ-10, Saw Palmetto, Hawthorne, Acidophilus, L-carnitine, Fish oil, and so forth. I also take a multiple aimed at the +50 yr-old crowd. How many carbs are in supplements like these? Thanks for any info, Mel First you would have to identify any fillers, coatings, and type of caps used in the supplements that you take (some companies claim no fillers). Then,look up the chemical formula for the ingredients, e.g. L-carnitine: C18H36N2O12 -- C18 H36 N2 O12 as you can see, it has 18 carbon, 36 hydrogen, 2 nitrogen, and 12 oxygen. Since the hydrogen and oxygen are in a 3 to 1 ratio, I would call this a carbo(carbon)hydrate(water). Fish oil will be a fat (CxHx, little or no oxygen). Acidophilus bacteria would be mostly protein (but the milk that they are in will have the calories of milk). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acidophilus Use the general rule for these substances. 1 gram carbohydrate = 4 kCal 1 gram of protein = 4 kCal 1 gram of fats or oil = 9 kCal Abraham Lincoln once posed this question, allegedly, in a trial court. "If you call a dog's tail a leg, how many legs does a dog have?" "Five." replied the opposition lawyer. "Wrong." said Lincoln. "Callaing a tail a leg still doesn't make it a leg, the dog still has only four legs." Calling something a carbohydrate (hydrate of carbon [CH2O]n) with a different formula, doesn't make it a hydrocarbon. |
#5
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How many carbs in vitamins and supplements?
In article ,
pamela wrote: Billy wrote: In article , Mel wrote: I have been an Atkins-type for 6 years. Works well, lost 35 lbs, and kept it off. Daily carb count is around 60, but I never counted what is in CoQ-10, Saw Palmetto, Hawthorne, Acidophilus, L-carnitine, Fish oil, and so forth. I also take a multiple aimed at the +50 yr-old crowd. How many carbs are in supplements like these? Thanks for any info, Mel First you would have to identify any fillers, coatings, and type of caps used in the supplements that you take (some companies claim no fillers). Then,look up the chemical formula for the ingredients, e.g. L-carnitine: C18H36N2O12 -- C18 H36 N2 O12 as you can see, it has 18 carbon, 36 hydrogen, 2 nitrogen, and 12 oxygen. Since the hydrogen and oxygen are in a 3 to 1 ratio, I would call this a carbo(carbon)hydrate(water). Fish oil will be a fat (CxHx, little or no oxygen). Acidophilus bacteria would be mostly protein (but the milk that they are in will have the calories of milk). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acidophilus Use the general rule for these substances. 1 gram carbohydrate = 4 kCal 1 gram of protein = 4 kCal 1 gram of fats or oil = 9 kCal Abraham Lincoln once posed this question, allegedly, in a trial court. "If you call a dog's tail a leg, how many legs does a dog have?" "Five." replied the opposition lawyer. "Wrong." said Lincoln. "Callaing a tail a leg still doesn't make it a leg, the dog still has only four legs." Calling something a carbohydrate (hydrate of carbon [CH2O]n) with a different formula, doesn't make it a hydrocarbon. If you want to turn this into a disertation on the stoichiometry of polar and non-polar compounds, you are welcome to the thread. You are right of course, but for the purpose at hand, "I (me) would call this a carbo(carbon)hydrate(water)". Looks more like a dog than a duck. Do you have a problem with 4 kCal/gram? -- ³When you give food to the poor, they call you a saint. When you ask why the poor have no food, they call you a communist.² -Archbishop Helder Camara http://tinyurl.com/o63ruj http://countercurrents.org/roberts020709.htm |
#6
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How many carbs in vitamins and supplements?
Billy writes: You are right of course, but for the purpose at hand, "I (me) would call this a carbo(carbon)hydrate(water)". Except that L-Carnitine is an amino acid compound[1], which makes it a protein[2]. Also, it's chemical formula is C7H15NO3. C18H36N2O12 is L-Tartrate[3] (aka L-Carnitine Tartrate, aka (R)-Bis [(3-carboxy-2-hydroxypropyl) trimethyl Ammonium]), which is also not a carbohydrate. It's not the number of atoms that makes it a carbohydrate, it's the organization of them in the molecule[4]. Also, most common carbohydrates have a *two* to one ratio of hydrogen to oxygen, like glucose (C6H12O6), so having a three to one ratio would actually disqualify it. Plus, the fact that carnitine ends in "ine" is a big clue - carbs end in "ose", proteins end in "ine". Do you have a problem with 4 kCal/gram? Proteins are also 4 kCal/g. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnitine [2] http://www.mynchen.demon.co.uk/Ketog.../Carnitine.htm [3] http://www.ispharm.com/product/I14-0045.html [4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbohydrate |
#7
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How many carbs in vitamins and supplements?
In article , DJ Delorie
wrote: Plus, the fact that carnitine ends in "ine" is a big clue - carbs end in "ose", proteins end in "ine". Do you have a problem with 4 kCal/gram? Proteins are also 4 kCal/g. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnitine [2] http://www.mynchen.demon.co.uk/Ketog.../Carnitine.htm [3] http://www.ispharm.com/product/I14-0045.html [4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbohydrate There you go Mel, if it is just carbons and hydrogens it's 9 kCal. otherwise it is 4 kCals/gram. -- "When you give food to the poor, they call you a saint. When you ask why the poor have no food, they call you a communist." -Archbishop Helder Camara http://tinyurl.com/o63ruj http://countercurrents.org/roberts020709.htm |
#8
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How many carbs in vitamins and supplements?
There you go Mel, if it is just carbons and hydrogens it's 9 kCal. otherwise it is 4 kCals/gram. Carbons and hydrogens and kCals don't mean much to me. I was trained as an engineer so the discussions were Interesting, but not directly relevant to my quest. All I want to know is if the half-cup of vitamins and supplements I am taking everyday have been adding to the net carb count. Based on the carb counts in the carb-count manuals and on http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp, I have been ingesting around 60 net carbs daily, allowing me to hold at 210 pounds. I'm 62 and 6'3" tall. I exercise several times weekly. In 2003 I was a little over 240. If the one-a-day vitamin and the various supplements have a lot of carbs in them, it would be of moderate interest to know that I have been getting, say, 80 or a 100 carbs per day, instead of the 60 I have been getting from the Atkinsish regimen. I'm just trying to get a feel for how many net carbs I am stuffing into me each time I choke down the pills/capsules/caplets/softgels/etc. Thanks, Mel |
#9
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How many carbs in vitamins and supplements?
Mel wrote:
If the one-a-day vitamin and the various supplements have a lot of carbs in them, it would be of moderate interest to know that I have been getting, say, 80 or a 100 carbs per day, instead of the 60 I have been getting from the Atkinsish regimen. *I'm just trying to get a feel for how many net carbs I am stuffing into me each time I choke down the pills/capsules/caplets/softgels/etc. As DJ Delorie already pointed out in another post - If you've already lost and you're keeping it off then it doesn't actually matter. I'll add that carb counts and calorie counts have very poor accuracy but they work anyways - It's a matter of doing your own feedback and correction. Without more details of exactly what tablets you're taking the original question can't be answered. There are brands whose supplements don't use fillers so there's no gross carbs in them. There are brands that use protein gel capsules so there's no gross carbs to the holder either. There are brands that use carb based fillers that are insoluble fiber that add zero to the net, brands that use other fiber to the fillers that add calories but not carbs to the net, brands that use statch capsules rather than gel capsules. Only the cheapest brands have sugar coating. If you are taking a brand so cheap it does it costs little to move up one step in the quality ladder. For a long time I rolled my own assortment of supplements. I looked for a generic multi that listed itself as equivalent to Theragram-M and I used type of filler as a secondary chosing method. With a bottle lasting half a year I'd go a year or so at a time without any carb filler. I'd also add various specialty items based on family medical history trying to do prevention. Few of the specialty items use carb based filler. So 1) It doesn't matter, 2) It takes detailed reading of the labels to tell, 3) Don't be surprised that once you have read the labels you end up thinking they contribute zero. |
#10
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How many carbs in vitamins and supplements?
Mel wrote:
There you go Mel, if it is just carbons and hydrogens it's 9 kCal. otherwise it is 4 kCals/gram. Carbons and hydrogens and kCals don't mean much to me. I was trained as an engineer so the discussions were Interesting, but not directly relevant to my quest. All I want to know is if the half-cup of vitamins and supplements I am taking everyday have been adding to the net carb count. Based on the carb counts in the carb-count manuals and on http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp, I have been ingesting around 60 net carbs daily, allowing me to hold at 210 pounds. I'm 62 and 6'3" tall. I exercise several times weekly. In 2003 I was a little over 240. If the one-a-day vitamin and the various supplements have a lot of carbs in them, it would be of moderate interest to know that I have been getting, say, 80 or a 100 carbs per day, instead of the 60 I have been getting from the Atkinsish regimen. I'm just trying to get a feel for how many net carbs I am stuffing into me each time I choke down the pills/capsules/caplets/softgels/etc. Thanks, Mel What do the nutrition labels tell you, including the list of ingredients which are ordered by weight fraction? Question... are vitamins "burned", and for your low carb interests DO THEY CONVERT INTO GLUCOOSE ??? If they don't convert into glucose, they do not have the detrimental action which is alleged to the the basis of the low carb diet. On the one hand, your question is good. On th other hand, perhaps you need to think about it some more. Get down to the nitty gritty of what carbs do that make them basic to the diet, and then ask if the supplements, such as minerals (no) and vitamins(no) act the same way. Your brands of vitamins may have fillers that are digestable. But between the nutrition label and the contents label, you could be able to answer that question yourself -- suing your research skills finely honed as an engineer. |
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