I have a box of Honey Nut Cheerios here, and this is the nutritional label:
Serving size: 30g
Total Fat: 1.5g
Sodium: 210mg
Potassium: 125mg
Total Carbs: 24g
Protein: 3g
The total of the 2nd list of items is 28.8g, less than the size of a serving. Where are the missing 1.2g? Rounding? Something else that’s not counted?
Probably mostly water.
From this table, regular cheerios run at about 5% water.
There could be any number of places that aren’t listed.
First off, though, manufacturers are allowed to round individual items to the nearest half-gram, and serving sizes can also be rounded, so that’s probably most of it.
My guess, however, is that a certain amount of fiber is not accounted for. There has to be some fiber in that kind of cereal.
Also, many times the labels don’t itemize the stuff that comprises less than 2% of the total, so that might account for something as well.
Very true… but that’s included in the total carbohydrates number, which I didn’t break down since it adds up:
Total Carbs: 24g
Dietary Fiber: 2g
Sugars: 11g
Other Carbs: 11g
I do like the water answer. I can see why they wouldn’t need to list that.
The discrepancy’s even bigger if you look at foods with more water, like meat. A 150g hamburger patty might contain 20g of fat and 30g of protein, with the rest of the weight coming from water.