How Many Carbs Are You Consuming From Sausages?

548

Nowadays sausages are enjoyed in many cultures around the world. Each type of sausage has its own ingredients. Most of the sausages are a combination of ground meat, fat, and spices. So sausages are rich in protein and fat. It is also a good source of carbs. Health-conscious people are trying to avoid extra carbs from their diet. People with diabetes and other health conditions are also interested to reduce carbohydrate consumption. But how much carbs are you really taking from these sausages? Here is a review about the carb content of various types of sausage.

Credit: Phil Hearing

Sausages are basically a meat product. It is made from red meat such as beef, pork, chicken, and turkey. These are high in protein and rich in fat as well. This fat helps keep the meat moist during cooking. You may surprise to know that some sausages are containing lots of carbs due to added ingredients like flavoring and binders. Sausage is a meat byproduct and it often contains added flavoring from ingredients like herbs, spices, vegetables, and fruits.

Credit: Yuheng Chen

Sausages may vary depending on the meat or combination of meats. Generally, breakfast sausages are made from meat and meat byproduct. So these have no more than 50% fat by weight. Fresh pork sausages don’t include pork byproducts and have no more than 50% fat by weight. Italian sausage must contain salt, pepper, fennel, and anise. Sausages are preserved by curing, salting, smoking, and drying. These are considered as processed meat.

Credit: Oliver Fetter

Many sausages contain spices that may contribute few carbs. Some varieties of sausages are using natural flavoring that uses fruit, sugar, and cheese. For these ingredients, the sausages may contain a few amounts of carbs. The common carb sources of sausages are the binding agents like breadcrumbs and potato flour. These binding agents are using to maintain consistency and prevent the meat from being crumbly. Other binders such as flour, soy flour, wheat gluten, and corn syrup are also higher in carbs.  So the type of binding agents, as well as the type of flavorings used in sausages, affects the final crab content of the product.

Credit: Peter Secan

However, sausages are ground meat and considered processed meats. So you should limit the usage of sausages in a nutritious balanced cooking style.