Graham crackers: 24.85 g of sugar against 3.4 g of fibre

Eight weeks of graham crackers has been measured, because a trial needed a snack to compare almonds against. Thirty-five students aged 18 to 19 ate 77.5 g of graham crackers a day, 338 kcal, and their HDL cholesterol fell 24.5 percent over those eight weeks against 13.5 percent in the almond arm. Measured against them, the almond arm finished with a two-hour glucose area under the curve 13 percent lower and an insulin resistance index 34 percent lower, while both arms gained the same body mass. The trial had no arm without a snack, so this ranks two snacks rather than measuring crackers against nothing. Most of those students, 63 percent, rarely or never ate breakfast beforehand, and in both arms fasting glucose and LDL cholesterol fell over the eight weeks. That direction cannot be separated from eating anything at all in the morning. The name promises more than the box holds. USDA puts graham crackers at 430 kcal, 24.85 g of total sugars and 3.4 g of fibre per 100 g, which is an average across brands with no measured range behind it.

How much is actually in it

• USDA puts graham crackers at 430 kcal, 24.85 g of total sugars and 3.4 g of fibre per 100 g, so a food named after a whole wheat flour carries over seven times as much sugar as fibre. — USDA FNDDS survey food Graham crackers, category Cookies and brownies (n = 1 record) Evidence E source
  Per 100 g energy 430 kcal, total sugars 24.85 g, dietary fibre 3.4 g, sodium 516 mg
• In US regulation graham flour is no separate flour. The standard of identity names whole wheat flour, graham flour and entire wheat flour as one and the same food, so the word graham on a box says nothing about how much of that flour is in the cracker. — flour sold in the United States under the names whole wheat, graham or entire wheat Evidence E source
  The three names cover one standardised food, defined by grinding cleaned wheat to a stated sieve specification
• The trial dose was 5 sheets of graham crackers a day, 77.5 g, and that amount carried 74% of its energy as carbohydrate with 2.5 g of fibre, 20% as fat and 6% as protein. — the cracker arm of the 8-week UC Merced trial, 35 students (n = 35) Evidence B source
  5 sheets a day at 77.5 g, 74% carbohydrate with 2.5 g fibre, 20% fat, 6% protein, against 57 g of almonds at 74% fat with 8 g fibre in the other arm

What a real portion looks like

• One large rectangular graham cracker weighs 15 g and brings 64.5 kcal with 3.7 g of sugars, while a small single serving bag of 45 g brings 193.5 kcal with 11.2 g of sugars. — USDA FNDDS household measures for Graham crackers (n = 8 measures) Evidence E source
  1 large rectangular piece or 2 squares 15 g, 64.5 kcal, 3.7 g sugars, 77.4 mg sodium; 100 calorie package 21 g, 90.3 kcal; small bag 45 g, 193.5 kcal, 11.2 g sugars; large bag 85 g, 365.5 kcal, 21.1 g sugars; 1 cup crushed 85 g
• When preschoolers were given 60 g of graham crackers with applesauce, serving juice instead of water raised the energy of the whole snack from 104.8 to 175.4 kcal. — 26 children of mean age 3.9 years, four 20-minute snack sessions of 200 g applesauce and 60 g graham crackers with juice or water in two sizes (n = 26) Evidence C source
  Overall snack energy 175.4 plus or minus 50.0 kcal with juice against 104.8 plus or minus 62.8 kcal with water (p < 0.001); the 12 oz water condition took more energy from food than the 12 oz juice condition

What your body absorbs

• Crackers baked with conventional flour scored a glycemic index of 90 and crackers with 30% whole wheat flour scored 77, while only the version with 30% sunflower seed flour dropped to 53 in 11 healthy adults. — 11 healthy adults of mean age 23.5, crossover design, each cracker meal providing 50 g of available carbohydrate against a 50 g glucose reference (n = 11) Evidence B source
  Glycemic index 90 for the conventional cracker, 77 with 30% whole wheat substitution, 53 with 30% sunflower seed substitution; only the sunflower version lowered postprandial glucose, glucose excursions and peak glucose

What it does to your health

• In 35 first-year students who ate 77.5 g of graham crackers a day for 8 weeks, HDL cholesterol fell 24.5% against 13.5% in the almond arm, and the almond arm finished with a 13% lower 2-hour glucose area under the curve than theirs. — 73 college students aged 18 to 19 with BMI 18 to 41, randomised to a daily almond snack (n = 38) or a graham cracker snack of 77.5 g and 338 kcal (n = 35) for 8 weeks (n = 73) Evidence B source
  HDL cholesterol decline over 8 weeks 24.5% in the cracker arm against 13.5% in the almond arm (p < 0.05); measured against the cracker arm the almond arm had a 13% lower 2-hour glucose area under the curve, a 34% lower insulin resistance index and an 82% higher Matsuda index during the oral glucose tolerance test (p < 0.05)
• Adding a daily graham cracker snack for 8 weeks lowered fasting glucose and LDL cholesterol in students who mostly skipped breakfast, the same direction as the almond arm of the same trial. — 73 students aged 18 to 19 randomised to almonds or a 77.5 g graham cracker snack for 8 weeks, 63% of them reporting breakfast rarely or never beforehand (n = 73) Evidence B source
  Fasting glucose and LDL cholesterol fell in both the almond and the cracker arm over 8 weeks

What people believe that the data does not support

• In 40 children aged 4 to 6 the same graham crackers tasted better when the package carried a cartoon character, and the pull of the character was weaker for carrots than for the crackers. — 40 children aged 4 to 6 tasting three pairs of identical foods, graham crackers, gummy fruit snacks and carrots, in packages with and without a licensed character (n = 40) Evidence C source
  Children preferred the taste of the food in the character package and mostly chose it as their snack, with the effect weaker for carrots than for gummy snacks and graham crackers

Who this works differently for

• Among 45 people with gastroparesis surveyed about foods, graham crackers were one of three foods that moderately improved symptoms, while fatty, acidic, spicy and roughage-based foods worsened them. — 45 patients with gastroparesis, 39 of them idiopathic, rating foods from -3 to +3 on a food toleration survey (n = 45) Evidence C source
  Saltine crackers, jello and graham crackers moderately improved symptoms; orange juice, fried chicken, cabbage, sausage and pizza were among those that worsened them

What is still unknown

• After 8 weeks of a daily graham cracker snack, 20 students met a glucose load with a different lipid pattern than the almond group, whose unsaturated triglycerides rose earlier and fell later. — 20 participants from each arm of the same 8-week trial, 2-hour oral glucose tolerance test at the end (n = 40) Evidence B source
  Biphasic lipid response with higher unsaturated triglycerides early and lower late in the almond arm against the cracker arm (p < 0.05)

The bottom line

The word graham describes a flour, and in United States regulation it is not even its own flour. The standard of identity names whole wheat flour, graham flour and entire wheat flour as one and the same food, ground from cleaned wheat to a stated sieve specification. Nothing there requires graham flour to dominate a product called a graham cracker. USDA's own figures for the cracker, seven times more sugar than fibre, are what a mostly refined recipe looks like, and the trial product carried 2.5 g of fibre in its 77.5 g daily dose, with 74 percent of the energy as carbohydrate. Whole wheat flour by itself also does less to glucose than the word suggests. In 11 healthy adults, crackers baked with conventional flour scored a glycemic index of 90 and crackers with 30 percent whole wheat flour scored 77, while only a 30 percent swap to sunflower seed flour brought it down to 53. Those crackers were baked for the study rather than bought as graham crackers. Portions are where this food gets away from people. One large rectangular cracker, or two squares, weighs 15 g and brings 64.5 kcal with 3.7 g of sugars. A small single serving bag of 45 g brings 193.5 kcal with 11.2 g of sugars, and a large bag of 85 g brings 365.5 kcal with 21.1 g. A bite size piece weighs 3 g, so counting pieces is a poor guide to how much has been eaten. Those per portion figures are recalculated by USDA from the survey average, so they are only as good as that average. Two groups meet these crackers differently. Among 45 patients with gastroparesis, 39 of them idiopathic, rating foods on a toleration survey, graham crackers were one of three foods that moderately improved symptoms, with saltine crackers and jello. Fatty, acidic, spicy and high-roughage foods made symptoms worse. That is self-reported tolerance in 45 people rather than a feeding test, and the quality that helped, bland starchy sweetness, is the same quality that leaves the fibre low and the sugar high. Six of those 45 did not have idiopathic gastroparesis, and the survey asked only about symptoms, so nothing in it says what the crackers did to anyone's glucose. With small children, what sits beside the crackers decides the snack. When 26 preschoolers of mean age 3.9 years were given 60 g of graham crackers with applesauce, serving juice instead of water took the whole snack from 104.8 to 175.4 kcal. In 40 children aged 4 to 6, the same crackers tasted better when a cartoon character was on the package, and the pull of the character was weaker for carrots than for the crackers. Both findings come from a laboratory and describe what surrounds the food. On safety this page is empty, and that is worth saying plainly. Nobody in our corpus has asked whether graham crackers carry anything harmful. There is nothing on safety limits, nothing on pregnancy, nothing on kidney disease and nothing on any medicine. Acrylamide forms in baked cereal products, and no study in our corpus measured it in graham crackers, so we are not carrying a number across from another food. The rest of the gaps are about the numbers themselves. There is no USDA Foundation record and no second independent composition table for graham crackers, so the 430 kcal and the 24.85 g of sugar have nothing to be checked against. The retention table knows neither this product nor its food group, so what baking and storage do to it is uncovered. The metabolomic arm of that student trial found a different lipid pattern after a glucose load, with unsaturated triglycerides rising earlier and falling later in the almond group than in the cracker group. That came from 20 people per arm with no clinical outcome attached, and its authors call for further work.

Sources

1. grah-r2-01 · USDA FoodData Central FNDDS, dataset
   Graham crackers (FDC 2708133, FNDDS 54102010, Cookies and brownies): Energy 430 KCAL per 100 g; Total Sugars 24.85 G; Fiber, total dietary 3.4 G; Sodium, Na 516 MG
   USDA FoodData Central, FNDDS, FDC 2708133 · checked 2026-09-24
2. grah-r2-03 · 21 CFR standard of identity
   Whole wheat flour, graham flour, entire wheat flour is the food prepared by so grinding cleaned wheat, other than durum wheat and red durum wheat, that when tested by the method prescribed in paragraph (c)(2) of this section, not less than 90 percent passes through a 2.36 mm (No. 8) sieve and not less than 50 percent passes through a 850 µm (No. 20) sieve.
   21 CFR 137.200, whole wheat flour, graham flour, entire wheat flour · checked 2026-09-24
3. grah-r2-06 · randomised controlled trial
   Participants in the cracker group (n=35) served as the isocaloric control consuming 5 sheets (77.5 g/d) of graham crackers (74% carbohydrate (2.5 g fiber, 20% fat, 6% protein).
   J Am Nutr Assoc, 2023 · checked 2026-09-24
4. grah-r2-02 · USDA FoodData Central FNDDS, dataset
   Graham crackers (FDC 2708133, FNDDS): 1 large rectangular piece or 2 squares = 15 g; 1 miniature/bite size = 3 g; 1 stick = 3 g; 1 small or medium single serving bag = 45 g; 1 large single serving bag = 85 g; 1 100 calorie package = 21 g; 1 cup, crushed = 85 g; at 430 KCAL per 100 g: 15 g = 64.5 KCAL, 45 g = 193.5 KCAL, 85 g = 365.5 KCAL; Total Sugars: 15 g = 3.7 G, 45 g = 11.2 G, 85 g = 21.1 G
   USDA FoodData Central, FNDDS, FDC 2708133 · checked 2026-09-24
5. grah-r2-09 · controlled crossover feeding study
   A main effect of beverage type was found on overall snack energy intake, with more overall energy consumed when juice was provided (175.4 ± 50.0 kcal vs. 104.8 ± 62.8 kcal, p < 0.001).
   Appetite, 2015 · checked 2026-09-24
6. grah-r2-07 · randomised crossover trial
   The SFC crackers provided low GI and GL values (GI: 53 on the glucose scale, GL: 6 per serving), whereas the WWC and CC crackers provided high GI (GI: 77 and 90 on the glucose scale, respectively) and medium GL values (11 and 12 per serving, respectively).
   Eur J Clin Nutr, 2024 · checked 2026-09-24
7. grah-r2-04 · randomised controlled trial
   Almond snacking resulted in a smaller decline in HDL cholesterol over 8 weeks (13.5% vs. 24.5%, p < 0.05), 13% lower 2-h glucose area under the curve (AUC), 34% lower insulin resistance index (IRI) and 82% higher Matsuda index (p < 0.05) during the OGTT, despite similar body mass gains over 8 weeks compared with the cracker group.
   Nutrients, 2018 · checked 2026-09-24
8. grah-r2-05 · randomised controlled trial
   In general, both almond and cracker snacking reduced fasting glucose, and LDL cholesterol.
   Nutrients, 2018 · checked 2026-09-24
9. grah-r2-11 · cross-sectional comparative taste test
   Children significantly preferred the taste of foods that had popular cartoon characters on the packaging, compared with the same foods without characters. The majority of children selected the food sample with a licensed character on it for their snack, but the effects were weaker for carrots than for gummy fruit snacks and graham crackers.
   Pediatrics, 2010 · checked 2026-09-24
10. grah-r2-10 · cross-sectional patient survey
    Saltine crackers, jello, and graham crackers moderately improved symptoms.
    Dig Dis Sci, 2015 · checked 2026-09-24
11. grah-r2-08 · randomised controlled trial
    Findings exhibit a biphasic lipid response with higher levels of unsaturated triglycerides earlier in the oGTT followed by lower levels later in the almond vs cracker group (p-value <.05, chemical enrichment analyses).
    Nutr Res, 2025 · checked 2026-09-24