Is Jam Keto? How Many Carbs Are in Jam and Marmalade
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Is jam keto? Regular jam is mostly carbohydrate. CoFID 2021, the UK's food composition dataset, lists regular jams and marmalade at 69.0–69.5g of carbohydrate per 100g, all of it sugars. A heaped teaspoon (18–20g in NHS dietetics leaflets) has about 12.4–13.9g (our calculation). The British Dietetic Association (BDA) puts a very low carb (ketogenic) diet at 20–50g of carbohydrate a day. Jams made with sweeteners must carry "‘with sweetener(s)’" with the name of the food, so check the carbohydrate and polyols lines on the label.
At a glance
- 69.0–69.5gcarbs per 100g in CoFID's regular jam and marmalade entries
- 12.4–13.9gcarbs in an 18–20g heaped teaspoon of those jams (our calculation)
- 20–50gcarbs a day on a very low carb (ketogenic) diet (BDA)
- 350gminimum fruit per 1,000g of jam for most fruits (England's jam regulations)
On this page
Is jam keto? This guide answers with figures rather than labels. It uses CoFID 2021, the UK's food composition dataset, for the carbs in jam, marmalade and lemon curd, and sets them against the BDA's carb range for a ketogenic diet. It then explains what England's jam regulations say jam must contain, and what each line on a jam label means.
Is jam keto?
The BDA's food fact sheet on low carb diets puts a very low carb (ketogenic) diet at 20–50g of carbohydrate a day. Regular jam is mostly carbohydrate: CoFID 2021 lists jam made from fruit with edible seeds at 69.0g of carbohydrate per 100g, all of it sugars.
So whether a spoonful of jam fits depends on how much you use and what else you eat that day. A heaped teaspoon of regular jam has about 12.4–13.9g of carbohydrate (our calculation, below). That's 62–70% of a 20g day, or 25–28% of a 50g day (our calculation). Jams made with sweeteners can be very different, so for any jar the figure to check is the carbohydrate line on its label.
How many carbs are in jam?
These are the jam, marmalade and lemon curd entries in CoFID 2021, with CoFID's own food names, per 100g:
| CoFID 2021 entry | Carbs per 100g | Sugars per 100g | kcal per 100g |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jam, fruit with edible seeds | 69.0g | 69.0g | 261 |
| Jam, stone fruit | 69.3g | 69.3g | 261 |
| Marmalade | 69.5g | 69.5g | 261 |
| Jam, reduced sugar | 31.9g | 31.9g | 123 |
| Lemon curd | 58.4g | 52.5g | 266 |
| Lemon curd, homemade | 50.7g | 50.7g | 350 |
CoFID 2021 food codes 17-073, 17-688, 17-078, 17-075, 17-762 and 17-806, sheet 1.3 Proximates. In each entry, the carbohydrate figure is starch plus sugars. Only the shop-bought lemon curd has any starch (5.9g per 100g).
A few things to know about these figures:
- Flavours. CoFID doesn't give separate figures for strawberry, raspberry or other flavours. Its "Jam, fruit with edible seeds" entry covers "10 samples, 5 flavours", and "Jam, stone fruit" covers "8 samples, 4 flavours".
- Age of the data. CoFID's data references for the regular jams and marmalade cite a 1994 analysis, with a 2013 review or 2013 industry data. Its "Jam, reduced sugar" entry cites a 1992 analysis of "9 samples, 5 brands; assorted flavours". The label on your jar gives its own figures.
- Fibre. On UK labels, fibre has its own line and isn't part of the carbohydrate figure (see the definitions under how to read a jam label). CoFID gives AOAC fibre of 1.0g per 100g for stone fruit jam, 0.5g for marmalade and 1.7g for "Jam, reduced sugar", and no figure for jam with edible seeds. Our guide to net carbs on UK food labels explains why you don't subtract fibre again.
Honey is also mostly carbohydrate: CoFID 2021 lists it at 76.4g per 100g, all of it sugars. Our guide to the carbs in honey covers it in more detail.
Carbs in a heaped teaspoon of jam
There's no single UK weight for a spoonful of jam. Two NHS dietetics leaflets give different weights for a heaped teaspoon:
- South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust's "Carbohydrate content of foods" lists "Jam or marmalade" as 20g for "1 Heaped teaspoon".
- NHS Fife's information sheet "Nourishing dairy-free or vegan diet" gives "1 heaped teaspoon (18g) of jam".
Here's what those two weights hold, worked out from the CoFID figures per 100g:
| CoFID 2021 entry | 18g teaspoon* | 20g teaspoon* |
|---|---|---|
| Jam, fruit with edible seeds | 12.4g | 13.8g |
| Jam, stone fruit | 12.5g | 13.9g |
| Marmalade | 12.5g | 13.9g |
| Jam, reduced sugar | 5.7g | 6.4g |
| Lemon curd | 10.5g | 11.7g |
| Lemon curd, homemade | 9.1g | 10.1g |
*Our calculation: carbs per 100g × 0.18 or × 0.20, rounded to one decimal place. For example, 69.0g × 0.20 = 13.8g.
The South Tees leaflet itself gives 15g of carbohydrate for its 20g heaped teaspoon of jam or marmalade, a little more than our figure from CoFID. It adds: "Note: The carbohydrate content between different brands varies greatly. Please check the label of the brand you have chosen." The surest way to count your jam is to weigh the spoonful and use the per-100g figure on the jar.
How jam compares with a keto carb range
The BDA's fact sheet is written "For weight loss for adults including those with prediabetes and diabetes." It sets out these categories of low carb diet:
| Type of low carb diet (BDA) | Carbohydrate (g/day) |
|---|---|
| Very low carb (ketogenic) | 20–50 |
| Low carb | 50–130 |
| Moderate carb | 130–220 |
| High carb | More than 225 |
It adds: "Overall, low carb diets are usually defined as those that provide less than 130g of carbs each day."
Set against that range, one 18–20g heaped teaspoon of CoFID's regular jams or marmalade (12.4–13.9g) is 62–70% of 20g and 25–28% of 50g (our calculation: 12.4 ÷ 20 = 62%, 13.9 ÷ 20 = 70%, 12.4 ÷ 50 = 25% and 13.9 ÷ 50 = 28%). A heaped teaspoon of CoFID's "Jam, reduced sugar" (5.7–6.4g) is 29–32% of 20g and 11–13% of 50g (our calculation). Everything else you eat that day counts towards the same total, including the toast or scone under the jam. Our guide to the carbs in scones covers that side of a cream tea.
The same fact sheet says: "Before deciding to follow a low carb diet it is important that you are aware of the supporting evidence, and if you have a medical condition you are advised to seek advice from a dietitian. If you have type 2 diabetes, you may need to reduce some medication such as insulin or sulfonylureas to avoid hypoglycaemia, and this should be done under medical supervision." It also says: "Ketogenic diets should not be followed by women who are pregnant."
What UK law says jam must contain
In England, the Jam and Similar Products (England) Regulations 2003 set out what a product must contain to be sold under names such as jam, extra jam, jelly, marmalade or lemon curd. The regulations say "they apply in relation to England only".
They define jam as "A mixture, brought to a suitable gelled consistency, of sugars, the pulp or purée or both of one or more kinds of fruit and water". Here are the fruit minimums for the main products, for most fruits:
| Product | Fruit used | Minimum per 1,000g* |
|---|---|---|
| Jam | Pulp or purée | 350g |
| Extra jam | Unconcentrated pulp | 450g |
| Jelly | Juice or aqueous extract | 350g |
| Extra jelly | Juice or aqueous extract | 450g |
| Marmalade | Citrus fruit | 200g |
*Schedule 1 of the regulations. The jam, extra jam, jelly and extra jelly figures are for "any other fruit". Lower minimums apply to "redcurrants, blackcurrants, rosehips, rowanberries, sea buckthorns or quinces", ginger, cashew apples and passion fruit: for jam, 250g, 150g, 160g and 60g. For marmalade, the regulations add "of which not less than 75 grams is obtained from the endocarp".
The regulations also set a minimum for sugars and other soluble solids. Note 2 to Schedule 1 says: "The products described in this Schedule must have a soluble dry matter content of 60% or more as determined by refractometer at 20°C except for— (a) those products in respect of which sugars have been wholly or partially replaced by permitted sweeteners; (b) those products labelled “reduced sugar” which may have a soluble dry matter content of not less than 25% and not more than 50%; (c) those products described in items 8 to 11 which must have a soluble dry matter content of 65% or more." Items 8 to 11 are fruit curds, lemon cheese, flavour curds and mincemeat.
For a fruit curd such as lemon curd, the regulations require "not less than 40 grams" of fat and oil for every 1,000g, and "not less than 6.5 grams of egg yolk solids". Lemon curd contains egg, so check the allergen information on the jar.
How to read a jam label
Two lines on a jam label come from the jam regulations. The nutrition table and ingredients list come from general labelling law.
- "Prepared with Xg of fruit per 100 g". Regulation 5 requires this line on jam, jelly, marmalade and the other products in items 1 to 7 of Schedule 1, with X being the grams of fruit used for every 100g of the finished product.
- "Total sugar content: Yg per 100 g". Regulation 5 requires this too, unless a nutrition claim about sugar content is made and the label gives the sugar content in the nutrition labelling set out in Articles 30 to 35 of Regulation 1169/2011. Here Y is "the content in grams of soluble solids in each hundred grams of the product, determined by refractometer at 20°C", accurate to "±3 refractometric degrees". So this line measures soluble solids, which isn't the same as the "sugars" defined for the nutrition table (below).
The regulations say both particulars "shall appear in the labelling of the food in the same field of vision as the name of the product and in clearly visible characters".
For carbs, the nutrition table is the place to look. Under Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, the UK version on legislation.gov.uk, the mandatory nutrition declaration includes "the amounts of fat, saturates, carbohydrate, sugars, protein and salt", and it may also include polyols, starch and fibre. Annex I defines the terms:
- Carbohydrate. "any carbohydrate which is metabolised by humans, and includes polyols". A polyol such as erythritol is counted in this figure.
- Sugars. "all monosaccharides and disaccharides present in food, but excludes polyols".
- Polyols. "alcohols containing more than two hydroxyl groups". Our guide to what polyols are explains more.
- Fibre. Carbohydrate polymers "which are neither digested nor absorbed in the human small intestine", given on its own line.
Then read the ingredients. The NHS says: "Ingredients must be listed in descending order of weight, so the main ingredients in the packaged food always come first." So the ingredients list shows whether sugar or fruit makes up more of the jar.
Jams made with sweeteners or honey
England's regulations allow sugars in these products to be "wholly or partially replaced by permitted sweeteners", and such products don't have to meet the 60% soluble dry matter minimum. Schedule 2 also allows honey "in all products as a total or partial substitute for sugars".
A jam made with sweeteners has to say so. Annex III of Regulation 1169/2011 requires these statements:
- Foods containing sweeteners: "‘with sweetener(s)’", and "this statement shall accompany the name of the food".
- Foods containing both added sugars and sweeteners: "‘with sugar(s) and sweetener(s)’".
- Foods containing more than 10% added polyols: "‘excessive consumption may produce laxative effects’".
Because the carbohydrate figure includes polyols, any polyol in a jam, such as erythritol, is counted in its carbohydrate figure. Where the label has a polyols line, it shows how much of the carbohydrate they make up. If a jam uses honey instead of sugar, remember that CoFID lists honey at 76.4g of carbohydrate per 100g, as above.
Speak to your GP, diabetes nurse or a registered dietitian before you make big changes to your diet. This is especially important if you have diabetes and take insulin or other medicines that can cause hypos, or take SGLT2 inhibitors, as your medication may need to change. The same goes if you're pregnant, breastfeeding or have a history of eating disorders.
Key takeaways
- Regular jam is mostly carbohydrate. CoFID lists regular jams and marmalade at 69.0–69.5g per 100g.
- A heaped teaspoon is about 12–14g. That's for an 18–20g spoonful of those jams (our calculation).
- The BDA's ketogenic range is 20–50g a day. Everything you eat that day counts towards it.
- Read the whole label. Check the carbohydrate and polyols lines, the "prepared with" fruit line and any "with sweetener(s)" statement.
Frequently asked questions
Is jam keto?
Regular jam is mostly carbohydrate. CoFID 2021 lists regular jams and marmalade at 69.0–69.5g of carbohydrate per 100g, so a 20g heaped teaspoon has about 13.8–13.9g (our calculation). The British Dietetic Association puts a very low carb (ketogenic) diet at 20–50g of carbohydrate a day. Check the carbohydrate figure on your jar's label.
How many carbs are in a teaspoon of jam?
It depends on the jam and the spoon. NHS dietetics leaflets give a heaped teaspoon of jam as 18g (NHS Fife) or 20g (South Tees Hospitals). With CoFID 2021's 69.0g of carbohydrate per 100g for jam with edible seeds, that's about 12.4g or 13.8g (our calculation). Your jar's label gives its own figure.
Is marmalade keto?
CoFID 2021 lists marmalade at 69.5g of carbohydrate per 100g, all of it sugars. That's about 13.9g in a 20g heaped teaspoon (our calculation). England's jam regulations say marmalade is made from citrus fruit, with at least 200g of citrus fruit used for every 1,000g of the finished product. Check the label for the figure.
Is jelly the same as jam?
Not in UK law. England's regulations define jam as made with fruit pulp or purée, and jelly as "an appropriately gelled mixture of sugars and fruit juice or aqueous extract of fruit or both". For most fruits, both need at least 350g of fruit per 1,000g of the finished product. CoFID 2021 has no entry for fruit jelly preserves.
Why do some jams say "with sweetener(s)"?
UK labelling law (Regulation 1169/2011, Annex III) says foods containing sweeteners must carry "‘with sweetener(s)’", and that this statement "shall accompany the name of the food". Foods with more than 10% added polyols must also say "excessive consumption may produce laxative effects". Polyols are counted in the carbohydrate figure, so check the polyols line too.
Sources
- The Jam and Similar Products (England) Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/3120), revised version on legislation.gov.uk: regulation 1 (England only), regulation 5 (labelling), Schedule 1 (composition, fruit minimums, soluble dry matter, curds) and Schedule 2 (honey as a substitute for sugars).
- Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers, UK version on legislation.gov.uk: Article 30 (content of the nutrition declaration), Annex I (definitions of carbohydrate, sugars, polyols and fibre) and Annex III, points 2.1, 2.2 and 2.4 (sweetener and laxative statements).
- Public Health England / Food Standards Agency. Composition of foods integrated dataset (CoFID) 2021: Jam, fruit with edible seeds (17-073); Jam, stone fruit (17-688); Marmalade (17-078); Jam, reduced sugar (17-075); Lemon curd (17-762); Lemon curd, homemade (17-806); Honey (17-050). Sheet 1.3 Proximates (carbohydrate, starch, sugars, AOAC fibre and energy per 100g) and sheet 1.2 Factors (sample descriptions and data references).
- British Dietetic Association. Low carb diets food fact sheet (who it is for, categories of low carb diet, advice from a dietitian, medication and pregnancy).
- NHS. Food labels (the order of ingredients).
- South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Carbohydrate content of foods (heaped teaspoon of jam or marmalade, its carbohydrate figure and the note on brands).
- NHS Fife. Nourishing dairy-free or vegan diet, information sheet, October 2022 (heaped teaspoon of jam).
