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. 2022 May 2;9:867378. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.867378

TABLE 3.

Comparison of carbohydrate-rich foods in the US meeting each of four metrics for assessing carbohydrate qualitya.

Food categoriesb Number and percent foods meeting each CQI metricc

10:1
(1 point)
10:1:1
(2 points)
10:1:2
(2 points)
10:1|2:1
(2 points)
Kappad
10:1 & 10:1:1
Kappad
10:1 & 10:1:2
Kappad
10:1 & 10:1|1:2




N N % N % N % N %
All foods 2423 860 35.5 690 28.5 743 30.7 681 28.1 0.84 0.89 0.83
“High quality” carbs
Non-starchy vegs 351 323 92.0 311 88.6 313 89.2 311 88.6 0.805 0.833 0.805
Legumes 76 72 94.7 67 88.2 68 89.5 67 88.2 0.585 0.642 0.585
Fruits 117 73 62.4 62 53.0 67 57.3 59 50.4 0.809 0.894 0.760
Whole grains 337 183 54.3 109 32.3 146 43.3 103 30.6 0.574 0.783 0.541
“Low quality” carbs
Refined grains 360 44 12.2 37 10.3 42 11.7 37 10.3 0.903 0.974 0.903
Snacks and sweets 532 28 5.3 8 1.5 8 1.5 8 1.5 0.431 0.431 0.431
Sugar, candy, desserts 280 15 5.4 1 0.4 2 0.7 1 0.3 0.119 0.226 0.119
Sweetened beverages 114 16 14.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0
100% fruit juice 46 9 19.6 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0
Starchy vegetables 210 97 46.2 95 45.2 97 46.2 95 45.2 0.981 1.00 0.981

aWe used data from the Food and Nutrient Datanase for Dietary Studies 2017-18 to identify carbohydrate-rich foods in the US diet.

bProducts were aggregated into 12 food categories based on the WWEIA food categories. The whole grain category was composed of foods containing > 25% whole grains by dry weight.

cThe proposed carbohydrate quality metrics were based on Liu et al. (3) and were based on per 100 g of carb:(a) 10 g fiber (10:1 carb:fiber), (b) 10 g fiber and <10 g free sugars (10:1:1 carb:fiber:free sugars), (c) 10 g fiber and <20 g free sugars (10:1:2 carb:fiber:free sugars); and (d) 10 g fiber and, per each 10 g of fiber, <20 g free sugars (10:1 carb:fiber, 1:2:fiber:free sugars). Values represent number (#) of products and percent (%) of foods in each food group meeting each of the criteria.

dKappa is a measure of agreement between the metrics. 0 indicates the agreement is by chance; 0.01–0.20 indicates slight agreement; 0.21–0.40 indicates fair agreement; 0.41–0.60 indicates moderate agreement; 0.61–0.80 indicates substantial agreement; 0.81–0.99 indicates almost perfect agreement.