About this site

Who runs it

carbsaresugar.com is a small, independent reference site, built and maintained by one person, not a company or an editorial team. It answers one question and shows exactly where its numbers come from. The site is not connected to Dr David Unwin, the Public Health Collaboration, the Journal of Insulin Resistance, or any food, pharmaceutical or diet company.

Why it exists

Dr Unwin's sugar infographics are among the most widely shared nutrition charts in the world. They are clear and they are free, and they are also static images: a chart for bread, a chart for cereals, a chart for fruit. Anyone who wants to know the figure for their own breakfast, or their own day, has to find the right charts and add the numbers up by hand.

This site does the adding. Pick the foods and portions, and it totals them in the same unit Dr Unwin uses: 4g teaspoons of table sugar with an equivalent effect on blood glucose. The figures sit beside one other number, the amount of glucose in an adult's bloodstream at any moment, and the reader takes it from there.

How the numbers are produced

The calculator currently lists 69 foods. Almost all of the figures are copied directly from Dr Unwin's charts, distributed by the Public Health Collaboration, or from Table 1 of the 2016 paper that sets out the method. A food's teaspoon figure is its glycaemic load divided by 2.73, which is the glycaemic load of one 4g teaspoon of table sugar. The page what is glycaemic load shows that arithmetic step by step.

The rules for the data are strict. No figure is estimated to fill a gap. Every food records its source and whether its figure was read from a chart, taken from a published table or calculated, and calculated figures record their inputs. Where two charts disagree, both numbers are recorded. Foods without a defensible published figure are left out. The full record is on the sources page.

Twice a year, an automated check confirms that every source is still online and flags any change to the Public Health Collaboration's sugar page for a person to review. It does not change any values by itself.

What this site does not do

• No products are sold. There is nothing to buy here, and no paid tier.
• No affiliate links. No link on this site earns a commission.
• No data is collected by the site. There are no accounts, no forms, no analytics and no database. Your food list lives in the page address and nowhere else. The site does carry Google AdSense advertising, and Google's own handling of data is described on the privacy page.
• Not medical advice. The figures are educational estimates based on averages. They do not describe any individual's blood glucose, and they are not a basis for changing medication or diet. Anyone managing diabetes or another health condition should talk to a doctor, nurse or dietitian.
• No food recommendations. The site shows figures. It does not say what anyone should or should not eat.

How it is paid for

Hosting costs are covered by display advertising served through Google AdSense. Advertisers have no say over the content or the data, and no food is included, excluded or described differently for commercial reasons.

Corrections

The site's credibility depends on its numbers being right. If a figure does not match its source, or a food is described wrongly, please use the contact page. Corrections that include a source are the most useful mail this site receives, and they are acted on.