Do ALL Campbell’s soups suck for diabetes? Yeah, just about.

campbell's soup and diabetes

I wrote a thing recently about Campbell’s soup and how it’s mostly bad for diabetes. Campbell’s has tons of different varieties of soups ranging from condensed to “Chunky” to “Homestyle” to “Healthy Request” (which is just “low” sodium) and probably a dozen others. Naturally, that begs the question of whether it’s really just a few Campbell’s soups that are unsafe for diabetics or if the problem is bigger than that.

First, I’d like to say that I actually LOVE Campbell’s soup. Before I got goddam diabetes, I literally used to buy cans of Chunky New England Clam Chowder by the dozen.

I also used to stockpile Condensed Chicken Noodle Soup because I liked it as a hangover remedy! I ate two cans at a time. Shit, maybe that’s why I’m diabetic.

diabetes chicken noodle

Anyway, the point is that I’m not “out to get” Campbell’s. I like eating their various soups, and in a way, I’m actually trying to convince myself that some of their soups are OK for diabetics to eat.

The only nutrition info numbers that I personally care about are carbohydrates and sugars, so that’s mainly what I’m going to focus on here.

Also, Campbell’s soups are notorious for being loaded with crazy amounts of sodium, so I will include that as a %DV figure just for fun.

According to Campbell’s:

The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

That’s straight from the can. So if a can of soup contains 95% Daily Value of sodium (not an exaggeration!), that’s very, very bad. You’re not supposed to get an entire day’s worth of salt from eating one thing.

Below is a somewhat random sampling of a whole bunch of Campbell’s soups of different varieties. There are different tables for Chunky, Condensed, Healthy Request, and Homestyle. The Homestyle table is brief because I guess Campbell’s only makes a few of them.

diabetes campbell's chicken corn chowder

The main factor that guided which soups I included here is how much I wish I could eat them without dying. Some are included based on my assumption that they’re probably really popular.

All of the values below are “per container.” That means the whole can, not “one serving” which we all know is bullshit. For condensed soups, I multiplied the nutrition info by 2 or 2.5, depending on how many “servings” are in that little can.

Nutrition info comes from the Campbell’s website.

Campbell’s Chunky Soup Total Carbs (grams) Total Sugars (grams) Sodium % DV
Baked Potato with Cheddar & Bacon Bits Soup 48 5 75%
Beef Burrito Soup 42 5 74%
Beef with Country Vegetables Soup 35 8 81%
Classic Chicken Noodle Soup 30 2 74%
Grilled Sirloin Steak & Hearty Vegetables Soup 34 7 84%
Hearty Cheeseburger Soup 33 2 75%
Hearty Chicken with Vegetables Soup 27 5 78%
Old Fashioned Potato Ham Chowder 37 2 76%
Chicken Pot Pie 34 4 75%
Savory Vegetable Soup 43 11 73%
Chili Mac Soup 56 15 75%
Minestrone with Italian Sausage 40 11 65%
Campbell’s Condensed Soup Total Carbs (grams) Total Sugars (grams) Sodium % DV
25% Less Sodium Chicken Noodle Soup 22.5 0 73%
Beef Noodle Soup 22.5 0 90%
Chicken Gumbo 30 5 73%
Chicken with Rice Soup 32.5 0 85%
Chicken Wonton Soup 17.5 2.5 95%
Cream of Broccoli Soup 22.5 7.5 85%
Cream of Chicken & Mushroom Soup 22.5 2.5 85%
Cream of Mushroom Soup 20 2.5 95%
Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup 30 2.5 95%
Old-Fashioned Vegetable Soup 37.5 5 98%
Tomato Soup 50 30 53%
New England Clam Chowder 32.5 <2.5 85%
Campbell’s Healthy Request Soup (“low” sodium) Total Carbs (grams) Total Sugars (grams) Sodium % DV
Healthy Request® Tomato Soup 42.5 25 43%
Healthy Request® Cream of Mushroom Soup 25 5 43%
Healthy Request® Vegetable Soup 47.5 12.5 43%
Healthy Request® Vegetable Beef Soup 37.5 5 43%
Healthy Request® Chicken with Rice Soup 32.5 0 43%
Healthy Request® Cream of Celery Soup 25 5 43%
Healthy Request® Minestrone Soup 47.5 12.5 43%
Healthy Request® Homestyle Chicken Noodle Soup 25 2.5 43%
Healthy Request® Mexican-Style Chicken Tortilla Soup 52.5 5 43%
Healthy Request® Tuscan-Style Lentil Soup 62.5 7.5 43%
Healthy Request® Southwest-Style Bean & Barley Soup 45 5 43%
Healthy Request® Chicken Noodle Soup 20 2.5 43%
Campbell’s Homestyle Soup Total Carbs (grams) Total Sugars (grams) Sodium % DV
Savory Chicken with Brown Rice Soup 32 8 34%
Italian-Style Wedding Soup 28 8 38%
Chicken with Whole Grain Pasta Soup 26 6 34%
Harvest Tomato with Basil Soup 50 26 39%
Mexican-Style Chicken Tortilla Soup 48 6 38%

What do all these numbers mean?

For reference, consider the following:

A can of Creamy Chicken & Dumplings sent my blood sugar from 101 → 232. That is not good! An increase of 131 is terrible. You don’t want that. And that can of soup contains 29g of carbs and 3g of sugars.

Compare that to a can of condensed Chicken Noodle Soup, which sent my blood sugar from 111 → 149. That soup, with 20g carbs and 0g sugars, resulted in a blood sugar increase of just 38. Note that Campbell’s “Chicken Noodle Soup” has slightly different nutrition info than “25% Less Sodium Chicken Noodle Soup” as shown in the condensed soup list above. The tradeoff for 25% less sodium is apparently a slightly higher carb count.

Also, I recently ate HALF a can of Chicken Corn Chowder, which contains an enormous 47g carbs and 7g sugars. The result? 104 → 171. That’s an increase of 67 from ONE HALF OF A CAN OF SOUP! That’s probably about the size of a “cup of soup” you might get as an appetizer at a restaurant. Eating the whole can would have been very bad.

Conclusion

Holy shit. Campbell’s soup is, for the most part, really bad for diabetics!! And how does a can of tomato soup manage to have 50g carbs AND 30g of sugar??

It looks to me like there are only a few soups that won’t murder you immediately, and they’re all around 20g carbs or less. Incidentally, they’re also all condensed, including Healthy Request® Chicken Noodle Soup.

As for Campbell’s Chunky Soup … BAD BAD BAD! If you have goddam diabetes, I strongly suggest you either limit yourself to half a can at a time, or you should just stay far, far away.

And obviously, if sodium is a big concern for you, never eat Campbell’s soup again for as long as you live! The lowest sodium %DVs are in the 30s, which still sounds like way too much.

diabetes campbells soup carbs sugar nutrition info