Carb watchers view 'net' worth

Now appearing on food packaging everywhere: net carbs.

Say what?

As more foods hop on the low-carbohydrate steamroller, many include bold statements on the package: ''Only 1g net carb'' or ''Just 2g net impact carbs'' or ``1g effective carbs.''

The ''g'' stands for gram, a standard food weight measure equal to ½8 of an ounce. But when you look at the government nutrition label on the back, the total carbohydrate grams listed often are much higher, sometimes 10 or 20 times higher.

For example, a CarbWatchers Gourmet Sugar-Free Milk Chocolate bar from Labrada Nutrition says ''Less than 1g Net Impact Carbs'' on the front but lists 5 grams on the back nutrition label. A package of Carb Slim Peanut Butter Crunch Bites says ''0 sugar carbs'' and ''0 net effective carbs'' but lists 14 grams on the back.

What gives?

''To get the net effect of carbs, the carbs that actually affect your blood sugar, you take out the fibers and the sugar alcohols, which are artificial sweeteners,'' says Fit Foods owner Justin Bailey.

The products take the total number of carbohydrate grams, then subtract fiber and sugar alcohol grams. What remains are the ``net effective carbs.''

Sounds great, but does it really work like that? This arithmetic is already so widely used by the food and diet industries that its truth is becoming accepted as common knowledge. But not everyone thinks this new math adds up.

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