Keto chocolate: what the label means

There is no legal definition of keto chocolate anywhere the catalogue has checked. In practice it means a product formulated with polyols or high-intensity sweeteners in place of sugar, sometimes with added fat or fibre, marketed against a low-carbohydrate eating pattern.

Because the term is unregulated, the composition varies widely between products carrying it, and the label is not a specification.

Most keto-marketed products print a net carbohydrate figure, calculated by subtracting fibre and polyols from total carbohydrate. That convention is used in the United States and is not a regulated calculation in the EU, where nutrition labelling declares carbohydrate and of which sugars.

The subtraction rests on the assumption that polyols and fibre are not absorbed and metabolised in the same way as sugars. That is broadly true and it is not uniformly true — polyols differ from each other substantially, and the accounting treats them as equivalent when they are not.

So a net carb figure is a manufacturer's calculation under a convention, not a measured value. It is worth reading alongside the actual declared carbohydrate rather than instead of it.

High-percentage dark chocolate is low in sugar without any of this. A 90% bar has a small carbohydrate load, an ordinary ingredient list, no polyols and no accounting convention.

Whether any of this suits a particular diet is a question for the person following it and, where a clinical condition is involved, for their clinician. This guide explains what the label asserts.