Carbs-to-Fiber Ratio Explained, and Why We Use It

There are are two kinds of people: those who want to eat healthy and those who want to eat food that is tasty but not good for you.

Often those two people are the same person.

You probably know what I’m talking about. There are times when I have worked hard to try and eat healthy foods, and there are also times when I have indulged in fatty or sugary foods more than I should. Being a blogger who reviews foods professionally actually creates some challenges in that regard, and our writers have all had to be careful not to spend too much time reviewing, say, the Aldi dessert lineup.

One author recently pointed out that there are four major diseases that impact people as they get older. These “Four Horseman” are 1) cardiovascular disease, including heart attack and stroke, 2) metabolic disease, including type 2 diabetes, 3) cancer, and 4) neurological disease, including dementia. Studies have shown over and over that habits like regular exercise, sleep, warm relationships with others, and meaningful activities can help us achieve longer and happier lives.

Carbs and Fiber

We also know that a good diet can be a factor, something we’ve written about elsewhere. Here, though, we want to focus on two specific numbers that can be found on every food label: carbohydrates and dietary fiber.

Carbohydrates, as you might once have learned in middle school science, are a nutrient that we need to survive. Some carbohydrates are simple, such as natural sugar and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), while others are complex, like starch. Research indicates that while excessive carb intake in general isn’t good for you, simple carbs are worse than complex ones. Excessive sugar and HFCS consumption are associated with a number of problems connected to the Four Horseman, such as chronic heart disease, stroke, obesity, and, not surprisingly, type 2 diabetes.

Fiber (or fibre, as it is spelled in some countries) is technically a carbohydrate, but it’s one your body can’t digest. You would think that something that just passes through your body wouldn’t have health benefits, but fiber does. Soluble fiber, which dissolves in water, is found in things like oatmeal, lentils, apples, and nuts and can help with lowering both blood sugar and cholesterol. Insoluble fiber, which does not dissolve in water, is found in whole wheat products, leafy greens, legumes, walnuts, and fruits with edible skins like apples (again), and it helps food move through the digestive system. Fiber has been associated with lower rates of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and even breast cancer. What’s more, because it is filling, it also helps with hunger.

So we know excess carbs, especially simple sugars, are bad for the body. We also know that fiber is good for the body. In addition, foods that have both can actually be good for you on the whole. An apple has both natural sugars but also dietary fiber, and that makes it a healthy food. (Apple juice, which lacks the fiber, is not as healthy.)

The key is to determine how many grams of carbs there are compared to how many grams of fiber. It’s called a carbohydrate-to-fiber ratio, and it’s very easy to calculate. Just divide the number of carbs by the amount of fiber. The lower, the better.

Take your average apple. It has 25 grams of carbs (19 grams of them being sugar) and 3 grams of dietary fiber. 25 divided by 3 equals 8.33. Expressed as a ratio, that would be 8.33:1 … or if you round to the nearest whole, roughly 8:1.

So what’s good? One study of whole grains targeted a ratio of less than 10:1 as good. Others argue for a lower ratio, like 5:1. Regardless, the aim is to be mindful of the ratio in foods and look for things that have a lower ratio.

Aldi and Ratios

To illustrate, here are some case studies from Aldi foods we’ve reviewed in the past:

• Simply Nature Graintastic Organic Bread — 21 grams of carbs and 4 grams of dietary fiber. That’s a ratio of 5.25:1. Whole grains, which keep the fibrous parts of the grain intact, are a terrific source of fiber. This bread has one of the lower ratios we can find in an Aldi product.
• Simply Nature Seedtastic Organic Bread — 21 grams of carbs and 3 grams of dietary fiber. That’s a ratio of 7:1. It’s not as low as the Graintastic bread it’s sold alongside of, but it’s still good.
• L’Oven Fresh Whole Grain White Bread — 26 grams of carbs and 2 grams of dietary fiber. With a ratio of 13:1, it’s above the 10:1 that researchers recommend.
• Millville Crispy Oats — 30 grams of carbs and 3 grams of dietary fiber. That’s a ratio of 10:1, which is right on the border of the recommended amount in the whole grain study.
• Millville Balance Cereal: Multigrain and Cinnamon — 33 grams of carbs and 3 grams of dietary fiber. Like the Crispy Oats, that’s a ratio of 10:1.
• Millville Raisin Bran — 48 grams of carbs and 9 grams of dietary fiber. The ratio here is 5.3:1. Despite the fact that the cereal is high in carbs, including 20 grams of sugars, the ratio is pretty low.
• Elevation Kids Baked Oat Bars — 25 grams of carbs and 3 grams of dietary fiber. That’s a ratio of 8:33:1, which doesn’t seem bad for a granola bar type snack.
• Millville Fruit Rounds — 32 grams of carbs and 1 gram of dietary fiber. As you might expect, the Fruit Loops imitation has a very high ratio of 32:1.
• Millville Chewy Dipped Granola Bars — 21 or 23 grams of carbs and 1 gram of dietary fiber. The ratio is either 21:1 or 23:1 depending on the type you get, but both are high.
• Nature’s Nectar Orange Juice — 26 grams of carbs and less than 1 gram of dietary fiber. With a ratio of at least 26:1, this is a good example of why fruit juices aren’t as good for people as fruit.

Closing Thoughts:

We’ve taken to discussing the carbs-to-fiber ratio in some of our posts where it’s relevant, and we think there is good reason for doing so. The research suggests that foods high in fiber are good for people to eat, even fresh fruits that have natural sugars. In addition to the benefits of the fiber itself, the fiber seems to help with metabolizing the carbs with it. That’s why we sometimes will talk about carb-to-fiber ratios in our reviews, and why we think it’s good math to do when you look at products on the shelf.

Just divide the carbs by the fiber. The lower the resulting number, the better.