Hidden carbs: why a Yuka score of 100 means nothing

An organic crunchy muesli with dark chocolate and hazelnuts scores a perfect 100 on Yuka. The label proudly reads: only 8.9g of sugar per 100g. Reassuring enough for any health-conscious shopper.

A 50g serving at breakfast already means 28 to 30g of carbs taken in, the equivalent of several tablespoons of pure sugar, without either the label or the app saying so clearly.

How can a product this carb-heavy earn a perfect score?

Yuka, like the Nutri-Score it leans on heavily, builds its rating from several criteria: additives, added sugar, salt, saturated fat, fiber, and whether the product is organic.

What these tools never do is show or weight total carbs.

Yet in a grain product (muesli, bread, pasta, cookies), most of the carbs come not from added sugar but from the starch naturally present in the grain: oats, wheat, rice. That starch never appears in the "sugars" box on a nutrition label. The body still turns it into glucose just as fast.

This is not only about people on strict keto. Excess glucose, whether it comes from added sugar or from grain starch, has the same metabolic effect on any body: an insulin spike, storage as fat if the energy is not used right away, and over time a higher risk of insulin resistance.

Cutting total carbs, not just added sugar, helps everyone, whether or not they follow any particular diet.

"Eating fewer carbs" and "being in ketosis" are often confused. They are two different things, and there are several steps in between.

Ketosis is a specific metabolic state in which the body makes ketone bodies from fat and uses them as fuel, including for the brain. It generally requires dropping below 20 to 30g of net carbs a day, a strict threshold particular to the ketogenic diet.

Between a standard diet and strict keto sit two levels of reduction: moderate (100 to 225g a day) and low (50 to 100g a day). Neither tips the body into ketosis, which keeps running mainly on glucose. But real benefits appear from the moderate level on:

• Steadier blood sugar, with fewer spikes and sharp drops
• Better insulin sensitivity
• Fewer cravings driven by the blood sugar rollercoaster
• Possible weight loss, driven by metabolic stability rather than by ketosis

The low level (50-100g) usually amplifies these effects compared with moderate, still without reaching ketosis. What neither one delivers is the effects specific to ketosis itself: ketone bodies as an alternative brain fuel, the particularly strong appetite suppression of deep ketosis, and the benefits documented in precise medical settings such as drug-resistant epilepsy. More recent clinical trials are also exploring its value in treatment-resistant depression, with encouraging but still preliminary results (small samples, short follow-up). Its use in ADHD rests for now mostly on practitioner reports rather than on solid human clinical studies.

The ketogenic diet is not required to get better metabolic health. It is a more demanding option with stronger effects. But the underlying principle, watching your total carbs and not just your added sugar, applies to everyone, whatever diet they follow.